A Good Contagion: Social Norms Makes Its Move in Anti-Corruption Thinking
By Matthew Muspratt As anti-corruption advocates dial in to virtual meetings and COVID-19 wipes clean the slate of forthcoming conferences
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For Practitioners
The Cinderella of the Sensitivity Fields: Why Corruption Mainstreaming Has Been Ignored in Development Programming
By Hope Schaitkin. Research tells us that that corruption-mainstreaming amplifies the impact of our development programming, and helps us avoid unwittingly contributing to or encouraging corrupt behavior. But why hasn’t corruption-mainstreaming gained the same ground as conflict sensitivity or gender within development organizations and programming? Read on to learn about three entry points for mainstreaming corruption in your organization’s development programming – from the perspective of a young development professional.
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Broad Anti-Corruption Programs Are the Wrong Approach
By Mark Pyman. In countries enduring high levels of corruption, whether related to conflict or instability, it is easy to see endemic corruption as something overarching, requiring similarly broad reform strategies. However, my experience in Afghanistan suggests the opposite; anti-corruption strategies need to be tailored to the specific enablers and drivers of each particular sector.
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Anti-Corruption Programs — Know Your Crowd!
Social norms exist within a group. They represent mutual expectations, not just common beliefs, within the group about what is the right way to behave in a particular situation. And it is the approval, disapproval or other social sanction from the members of the group that helps ensure compliance with the norm. Therefore, understanding the group — who is in and who is out — matters for programming.
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Changing Social Norms: What Anti-Corruption Practitioners Should Read
By Hope Schaitkin. New material on social norms change seems to be appearing every week. It can be hard to keep up with it, let alone adapt an ongoing program based on new insights. Here is our short list of recently published and evidence focused must-reads.
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The Elementary Problem That Undermines Social Change Programming: A Word of Warning to Anti-Corruption Practitioners
By Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church and Hope Schaitkin. There is increasing interest in understanding the role social norms play in maintaining corrupt patterns of behavior. Research from other fields has shown that social norms can act as the brake on behavior change, thus acting as the block to enduring change. While less is known about how to integrate social norm change into effective anti-corruption programming, other sectors are advancing this practice and anti-corruption practitioners can benefit from what they have learned.
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Why We Need to Connect Peacebuilding and Illicit Financial Flows: A Global Approach for a Global Problem
By James Cohen. Are new lines of communication needed between peacebuilding operations and financial centers?
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When Not to Call a Spade a Spade: The Importance of Quiet Anti-Corruption Initiatives
By Sabina Robillard with Louino Robillard
Many anti-corruption campaigns aim to target corruption directly and publicly. They are clear in their mission and have project titles that include the words “anti-corruption.” This directness is important in many respects, but being so visible makes it easy for people in power to applaud these initiatives in public – and to avoid them, or even undermine them, in private.
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When Your Project’s Success Gets a “So What?” in Response
By Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church
Understanding success isn’t easy at the best of times in complex environments. But when change is achieved but not acknowledged as such according to traditional sectoral standards, what does that mean?
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The Biggest Paradigm Error in Tackling Corruption: Not Dealing with Organized Crime
By Eric Scheye International organizations, donors and policy analysts have, over the past few years, recognized how organized criminal networks impede and undermine development and
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