Institutional Arrangements to Combat Corruption

There is no question about the negative impact of corruption on development.Corruption reflects a democracy, human rights and governance deficit that negatively impacts on poverty and human security. Corruption endangers the stability of democratic institutions, discriminates in the delivery of government services and thus violates the rights of the people, the poor in particular. Corruption also poses a major obstacle to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

As such, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) considers its activities in the area of anti-corruption as essential to the strengthening of democratic governance in support of poverty alleviation and human rights protection.This also follows the broad consensus in the international community that good governance is essential to achieving sustainable development and poverty reduction. Reducing corruption also increases the effectiveness of aid in UNDP’s partner countries.

Since 1997, UNDP has been involved in accountability, transparency and integrity (ATI) programmes as part of our interventions to strengthen democratic governance. In past years, UNDP’s interventions in the area of ATI and anti-corruption have evolved from principally supporting awareness-raising and advocacy to advising partners through holistic approaches grounded on early lessons and internally developed policy tools.