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TI Publications

Field Guide for Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Aid Programmes:
Transparency International (TI) launched its new Pocket Guide of Good Practices for Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Operations, an abridged version of the guide that was first published in February 2010, less than one month after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
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Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Operations:
The handbook is primarily aimed at managers and staff of humanitarian agencies, both at headquarters (HQ) and in the field. It speaks directly to those on front line of aid delivery as well as to senior managers who determine organisational culture and values.
The handbook is designed to help anyone working in the humanitarian sector identify and prevent the corruption risks faced by their particular organisation or department, or within a specific programme or role. It does not try to set out industry-wide standards for aid agencies in emergencies. Rather, it describes ‘what to do’ to minimise corruption risks, while numerous reference documents attached offer technical details on ‘how to do it’.
The first edition is in English. French and Spanish translations will follow.
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Beneficiary perceptions of corruption in humanitarian assistance: a Sri Lanka case study

These two reports by the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), commissioned by TI, explore how crisis-affected populations perceive corruption in the assistance process through case studies in Uganda and Sri Lanka. The reports focus primarily on non-financial corruption, such as political interference in targeting and registration of beneficiaries or diversion of relief resources to non-target groups. The two case studies aimed to foster a better understanding of the manifestations, actors and incentives in these subtler forms of corruption in order to identify possible remedies.

Final Research Report: Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Assistance. This report describes research on the problem of corruption in humanitarian assistance, carried out in 2007 and 2008 by the Feinstein International Center of Tufts University (FIC) in collaboration with the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) at the Overseas Development Institute in London (ODI) and the sponsoring organization, Transparency International (TI). read more..

Roslyn G. Hees, Marie-Luise Ahlendorf and Marcela Rozo, Transparency International (2007): 'Prevention of corruption in emergency procurement: an imperative for the humanitarian aid community'
IAT03-18/2 in the 2007 Aid + Trade Review.There are a number of factors that make procurement in emergency contexts particularly prone to corruption. This paper outlines these factors and highlights a number of strategies and tools for addressing this issue more effectively. read more..

Ensuring the Transparent Use of Earthquake Reconstruction Funds
This report outlines the recommendations made at the International Workshop on Ensuring the Transparent Utilisation of Earthquake Reconstruction Funds, held in Islamabad in February 2006. The workshop report is also available in Urdu.

Transparency International (2006): ‘Corruption in Humanitarian Aid’ Working Paper #03/2006
This Working Paper is intended to provide an overview of corruption in humanitarian aid from TI’s perspective as the leading civil society coalition against corruption. It explains why humanitarian aid is at risk from corruption, what can potentially be done to minimise these risks and concludes with suggestions for further investigation and action.
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Peter Ewins, Paul Harvey, Kevin Savage and Alex Jacobs Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Management Accounting for NGOs (MANGO) (2006) ‘Mapping the Risks of Corruption in Humanitarian Action.’
A report for Transparency International and the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre.
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This report examines the risk of corruption in humanitarian action. It lays out where different risks may lie within the complex system of delivery and contracts that forms the basis of humanitarian assistance. Breaking down typical models of assistance by setting out the various elements of the process in tabular form, it attempts to map where various types of corruption exist, and to show the key components of such risks. In doing so, this report aims to enable the development of more specific corruption risk maps for particular contexts and to point to the various types of tools and methods that need to be developed in order to minimise corruption.

Asian Development Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Transparency International (2005):‘Curbing Corruption in Tsunami Relief Operations’.
Proceedings of the Jakarta Expert Meeting organised by the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific and Transparency International, and hosted by the Government of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia 7–8 April 2005.

This meeting was attended by representatives of governments and civil society organisations from tsunami-affected countries, international donor agencies and humanitarian aid providers. It highlighted approaches to preventing and curbing corruption by governments of tsunami-affected countries. Working papers were prepared on: country ownership and participatory decision-making, improving the transparency of aid flows, strengthening financial safeguards and administrative capacity, facilitating effective and transparent needs assessment, contracting and execution, the role of community feedback mechanisms, and effective anti-corruption enforcement and complaint mechanisms. Participants agreed broadly on a framework for action that provides applicable solutions to counter corruption in humanitarian relief and reconstruction efforts for use by policy makers, civil society, aid providers and international institutions.

Global Corruption Report 2005:
Corruption in construction and post-conflict reconstruction.
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