Blog

International Anti-Corruption Day: IRI Leading the Fight

Emilia James

December 9, 2021

A woman balances bananas on her head and holds up a sign in favor of fighting corruption

On International Anti-Corruption Day, individuals, governments, and organizations from around the world speak out against the dark force that plagues many political spheres. However, IRI continues to be a leader in this fight. It has published products such as toolkits, videos, and even a website to help civic activists and interested partners alike to combat the disease of corruption. Each product contains useful information to equip those seeking democratic change and acts as an inspiration and guide for how to make that change happen.

Recognizing the need for guidelines to address the root causes of corruption and develop an action plan, IRI created the Vulnerabilities to Corruption Approach (VCA) in 2014. The VCA allows IRI to work with governments to use qualitative data to identify and address key issues related to corruption. Within this approach, there are six necessary steps:

Understand the politics
Bring together key decision-makers
Conduct an assessment
Create anti-corruption action plan
Implementation
Host anti-corruption forum

IRI’s VCA website keeps all VCA-related information in one centralized location. Specifically, it shows up-to-date assessments and vulnerability scores, from Tunisia to Paraguay. The scores are taken from responses to questionnaires and translated into numbers that represent a municipality’s vulnerabilities to corruption. Readers can find further explanations on the site, as well as an interactive map and an informative video. Alongside the website are the two impressive Toolkits IRI has published in the past three years.

The Vulnerabilities to Corruption Assessment Toolkit was created and released in 2018 as a way to connect potential partners to IRI’s VCA. The handbook includes “conditions conducive to corruption,” the VCA process, and “useful tips.” Two years later, in 2020, IRI published the Anti-Corruption Toolkit for Civic Activists. This extensive Toolkit focuses on “grand corruption,” and offers civic activists, and other empowered individuals, guidance on how to combat corruption, taking into consideration differing environments.

From Mongolia to Ukraine, IRI’s VCA has been used to develop an appropriate response to risks of corruption. In 2016, according to IRI polling, 90% of Mongolians believed corruption was a problem. IRI used this information to work with communities and local government to develop and implement an effective action plan. In 2018, in Ukraine, IRI used its VCA in three different cities to help local government and civic organizations address the number one citizen concern of corruption.

Since the VCA was first created over seven years ago, IRI continues to dedicate itself to connecting people to their government and local civil society organizations. Just as corruption was a leading concern in 2014, it remains a critical problem that citizens face daily, in every corner of the world.

IRI is committed to this fight and will continue to develop relevant tools that provide for a more democratic future.

To learn more about IRI’s anti-corruption efforts, please visit the links below:

Op-eds

Combating corruption: focus on institutions, not personalities – Democracy Digest (demdigest.org)

Is Systemic Corruption Driving Violent Extremism? (diplomaticourier.com)

In Tunisia’s War on Corruption, Local Government is on the Front Line | The Washington Institute

Why Fighting Corruption Is Key in a ‘New Era of Great-Power Competition’ (worldpoliticsreview.com)

Blogs

Mexico’s Civil Society Takes on Corruption | Democracy Speaks

Harnessing Social Accountability to Address Corruption at the Subnational Level in Cambodia | Democracy Speaks

Words that Corrupt in Tunisia | Democracy Speaks

Mexico’s Fight Against Corruption (democracyspeaks.org)