The World Bank Institute (WBI) supports operations by strengthening country capacity in all these areas. WBI particularly works to strengthen societal instruments of accountability by supporting media development, parliamentarians, legal and judicial reform, civic participation, private sector capacity for collective action against corruption, and youth leadership.
The Bank Group also undertakes a range of empirical diagnostics and assessments, using tools such as ‘Doing Business’ reports, ‘Investment Climate’ surveys, Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Indicators, and Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS). WBI Governance Indicators periodically monitor reforms and WBI Transparency Indices measure economic/institutional and political transparency dimensions in over 200 countries; and WBI Indicators of Media Sustainability assess the enabling environment for media development.
The Bank Group also undertakes a range of empirical diagnostics and assessments, using tools such as ‘Doing Business’ reports, ‘Investment Climate’ surveys, Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Indicators, and Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS). WBI Governance Indicators periodically monitor reforms and WBI Transparency Indices measure economic/institutional and political transparency dimensions in over 200 countries; and WBI Indicators of Media Sustainability assess the enabling environment for media development.
Fighting Corruption in Projects
At the project level, the Department of Institutional Integrity (INT), an independent unit reporting to the World Bank’s President, investigates allegations of corruption regarding Bank Group operations, as well as possible staff misconduct, and provides its findings to Bank management for decisions. Since its establishment in 2001, INT has handled more than 2,400 cases of alleged fraud, corruption or other wrongdoing. As a result, the Bank has sanctioned more than 330 companies and individuals, information on whom is publicly available on the Bank’s website. When appropriate, the Department also refers its findings to the prosecutorial authorities of relevant member countries for further action. INT is now incorporating lessons from past investigations upstream in project design and program development.
INT also conducts Detailed Implementation Review (DIR), a diagnostic tool designed to assess the risk of fraud, corruption and mismanagement in Bank-financed projects. Investigations following from DIRs have led to the debarment of 140 firms and individuals for fraud and corruption.
In FY2007, the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved the programmatic elements of a new Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP), a proactive investigative tool designed to elicit voluntary cooperation in the fight against corruption from firms that have previously engaged in wrongdoing. In FY2007, INT also released Integrity Report of the World Bank Group, Fiscal Years 2005 - 2006, which details actions the Bank has taken to investigate fraud and corruption and to sanction companies found to have engaged in wrongdoing. The Bank offers multiple outlets to report allegations of fraud, corruption, and other misconduct in bank-financed projects, including an international hotline (1-800-831-0463).
Global Partnerships
To strengthen coordination and collective action, the World Bank works in partnership with other stakeholders, private sector companies, civil society groups, and multilateral and bilateral development partners. It is an active participant in promoting the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials (1997), the UN Convention Against Corruption Treaty (2003), and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) (2002), and the Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) Ministerial Processes, among others.
Through the Bank Group’s private sector investment arm—the International Finance Corporation, it works to promote better corporate governance in private sector companies to address the supply side of corruption through such mechanisms as the Global Corporate Governance Forum. The Bank also works closely with several international anticorruption organizations and networks such as Transparency International, Partnership for Transparency Fund, Financial Action Task Force, and the OECD-Development Assistance Committee.
Leading By Example
Recognizing that any program to assist in controlling corruption worldwide needs to start with the example of best practices at home, the Bank has taken initiatives to stamp out conflicts of interest and any possible corrupt practices among its own staff. In 2003, the Bank announced the strengthening of financial disclosure obligations for senior staff, and all senior managers are now required to provide an annual statement listing their financial interests and those of their immediate family.
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