USAID anticorruption strategy

national security. This USAID strategy builds on the Agency"s anti-corruption experience and provides an opportunity to further advance its leadership in this area. USAID is cooperating with a broad range of U.S. Government agencies, bilateral donors, international organizations, and NGOs to address corruption globally. USAID works to reduce opportunities and incentives for corruption through public sector reform and deregulation, support for oversight and watchdog activities, and education of citizens about their roles in preventing corruption. The Agency has invested significant resources -- $184 million in FY 2001 and $222 million in FY 2002, according to a 2003 survey -- in programs specifically targeting corruption, as well as those broadly aimed at "governance", but with a significant anti-corruption dimension. The same survey showed that more than two-thirds of all USAID missions have some programs related to corruption and that most missions are interested in expanding these programs. The following broad actions will assist USAID to better address the development challenges posed by corruption: (1) Confront the dual challenges of grand and administrative corruption. In the past, many USAID anti-corruption programs have successfully targeted low-level, or administrative, corruption through bureaucratic and regulatory reform and public education and monitoring. In those countries where corruption is systemic and driven from the highest levels, however, efforts to address administrative corruption must be complemented by efforts to address high-level, or grand, corruption. USAID is developing a new assessment methodology that will provide a more comprehensive framework to analyze the locations, dynamics, and scale of corruption and the balance between grand and administrative corruption. The objective is to ensure that USAID interventions address the varying patterns of corruption; develop innovative strategies to address grand corruption; expand and improve strategies to curtail lower-level, administrative corruption; and develop sectoral and cross-sectoral strategies to reduce corruption and improve governance. (2) Deploy Agency resources strategically to fight corruption. The Agency must deploy its resources strategically and must allocate a greater proportion of available resources to reducing corruption. Missions and bureaus can leverage resources by incorporating anti-corruption components into all sectoral programs affected by corruption; focusing democracy and governance and economic growth resources more explicitly on anti-corruption; and increasing the share of funds dedicated to specific anti-corruption initiatives. The Agency will develop rapid response capabilities to enable USAID to augment anti-corruption efforts quickly when key opportunities arise. The Agency also will explore and respond to requirements presented by the Millennium Challenge Account. (3) Incorporate anti-corruption goals and activities across Agency work. USAID must pay attention to organizational incentives and structures that support or resist a broadened approach to Agency anti-corruption efforts. A comprehensive implementation plan will develop next steps to establish a budget code to track resources devoted to anti-corruption; incorporate specific anti-corruption goals into mission and bureau strategies and results frameworks; build collaboration by establishing integrated interagency and donor coordination mechanisms; include anti-corruption in Agency training, communication, and planning vehicles; and continue and expand Agency leadership on fighting corruption. (4) Build USAID"s anti-corruption knowledge. Anti-corruption assistance is a relatively new area of practice; thus, the Agency should strive to expand anti-corruption knowledge. Evaluating program effectiveness and impact will better enable the Agency to measure and improve the effectiveness of its programs. Establishing an Agency-wide "community of practice" will encourage the collection and dissemination of anti-corruption learning. Engaging the Agency in a dialogue on gender and corruption will illuminate important and challenging issues.