USAID’s anticorruption strategy published in 2004 concluded that widespread corruption is harming the economic performance of many developing and transitioning economies. About 87 percent of USAID’s anticorruption and governance programs are concentrated in economic growth and democracy and governance.

Through this project, Nathan Associates analyzed which economic governance activities have reduced corruption so that new programs can be just as effective. We drew best practices and lessons from hard-data case studies of four projects: the Ukraine Regulatory Reform and USAID/BIZPRO; Energy Reform through the Rural Electrification Board in Bangladesh; Customs Reform in the Philippines; and Modernization of the Land Property Registry in El Salvador.

Nathan Associates hosted two roundtable discussions to debate, refine, and solidify what has been learned about best practices in the design of economic growth projects that aim to reduce corruption.

The first roundtable was attended by USAID experts in economic governance and corruption and other leading thinkers in business regulatory reform, energy reform, customs reform, and land registry modernization.

The second included those designing and implementing general anti-corruption programs at and for USAID and other donor agencies. Daniel Kaufmann of the World Bank Institute provided the keynote presentation at the second roundtable. His presentation and others are provided below.

The project culminated with the publication of Anticorruption Interventions: Lessons Learned for the Design of Future Projects.

Debunking Myths About Corruption (Daniel Kaufmann)
Customs Reform in the Philippines
Integrity in Bangladesh’s Rural Electrification
Modernization of El Salvador’s Land Property Registry
Reducing Administrative Corruption in Ukraine

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