Multimedia from the Projects

The 8th webinar of the Evidence-based Action and Policy Roundtable series titled “Rural Transformation through Innovations and Infrastructure Beyond Industry” was held on 06/29/22. Dr. Amrita Dhillon discussed the comparative state performances of the Centrally Sponsored Schemes with a focus on MGNREGA and PMGSY. Mr. Tomas Stenstrom, Senior Specialist EIIP, ILO presented the global examples of livelihood through Road maintenance programs.

This presentation was shared at the Joint Vienna Institute conference in July 2021 on “Diagnosing Corruption and Its Costs”. Dr. Mihály Fazekas, CEU and GTI, shared insights into cutting-edge methods of measuring corruption risks in public spending, and showcasing selected applications of new methodologies in policy analysis. Rooted in a thorough qualitative understanding of what behavior constitutes corruption in public procurement – avoiding competition to favor a certain bidder – objective, de-facto, individual-level risk indicators can be formulated for buyers, suppliers, tendering process as well as political connections.

In this roundtable we welcomed an eclectic mix of researchers and practitioners to discuss how the two fields can learn from each other. Academics, also those studying corruption, are often accused of being in an ivory tower, far removed from real-world problems. Practitioners and policymakers, however, face criticism of not using empirically-validated methods to tackle corruption.

SOAS and Governance & Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence (GI ACE) researchers discussed why and how gender matters to our corruption research, both in terms of agency (how we focus on empowering actors) and impact (taking gender into consideration for public service delivery). Our research teams presented challenges and opportunities they have faced in incorporating gender in research design, and explored why many researchers still stray away from working with “gender” when designing research.

Crossing borders is a strategy used by many vulnerable populations in an age of inequality and climate crisis. Borders are governed by complex rules and bureaucracy that present ample opportunities for corruption, producing hardship and rights abuses that often have significant gender dimensions. Applying a gender lens, this conversation drew on new research that looks at how COVID restrictions at borders are impacting small scale cross border traders in East Africa. What happened to bribery and harassment with Covid restrictions and how are these dynamics gendered? What can Covid impacts tell us about how corruption operates more generally at these borders? As economic activities resume Post-Covid, what have we learned to improve trader conditions, build social resilience and reduce extraction from vulnerable populations at these borders?

The ACE Digital Library is an open-source database and tool to facilitate the mapping of scientific literature related to corruption. The tool is designed to manage the ever-growing catalogue of published research on these topics and facilitate the identification and retrieval of knowledge. It complements the Governance & Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence (GI ACE) Research Programme Theory of Change, which emphasises the need to promote academic research and support its use by practitioners.

Existing approaches to combating corruption have often failed to have the desired impact. If prevailing approaches have not worked, how do we move beyond them and discover, explore and test approaches that may be more effective? The GI ACE programme aims to address this by devising anti-corruption interventions that can effectively reach practitioners and shift the conversation from an existing paradigm that has stalled, toward a more focused and actionable framework for both understanding and tackling corruption. Five GI ACE researchers have written a series of papers that interrogate and identify the key practical changes needed to help make progress on the agenda of rethinking corruption.

Renowned corruption expert Sarah Chayes, discusses her groundbreaking book On Corruption in America: And What’s at Stake with Milan Vaishnav, Senior Fellow and Director of the South Asia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

This video is an edited version of a roundtable discussion that took place on as part of the Southern Africa City Studies Conference in which former municipal officials dissect issues of corruption and integrity in South African urban development processes.

Dr. Jacqueline Klopp’s team at Columbia University’s Earth Institute give a final presentation on their project regarding Ethical border trading between Kenya and Uganda for small-scale businesses. The team explores the methodology of their research, programming & policy implications and recommendations.

Dr Gilbert Siame, director of the Centre for Urban Research and Planning, Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, University of Zambia presents “Integrity and corruption in urban development – A key challenge of our times.”

John Heathershaw presents evidence as part of an academic panel on autocracies before the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

Anthony Staddon and Rick Stapenhurst, who were ACE award winners, speaking on their project about the role of British Parliament in combatting corruption.

 

Claudia Baez Camargo speaks on informal governance and corruption at the British Academy in 2018. The video outlines Baez Camargo’s GI ACE project which examines the informal practices that drive corruption through a comparative research design of seven countries.

 

 

Video presentation from Hamish Nixon on multilevel governance, decentralisation and corruption, presented at the British Academy in 2017. The presentation focuses on local government and the relationship between levels of government in Bangladesh and Nigeria.

 

 

The Oval on Oversight is a panel discussion in the precincts of the Parliament of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago with 16 influential persons looking in-depth at the issue of Parliamentary Oversight.

 

 

Prof. Frederick Stapenhurst, Professor of Practice at the Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill University in Canada, delivers an address on Parliamentary Scrutiny and Oversight as part of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago’s week of activities to promote its oversight role over government activity.