Five Principles for Engaging Citizens in Anti-Corruption Mechanisms

In this guide, we build on our collective understanding that citizen engagement matters in the fight against corruption and provide insights about how organisations might go about designing more effective, sustainable and engaging anti-corruption mechanisms. Based on research into why and how people decide to report corruption and what sustains initial engagement, we offer five principles that inform how organisations can understand, analyse and possibly adapt their anti-corruption mechanisms to become more effective.

These principles can guide practical steps to create and adapt anti-corruption mechanisms to ensure their usefulness in addressing grievances experienced by citizens. The principles are applicable across countries and contexts and are relevant for fostering engagement across different types of corruption problems.