Anti-Corruption Approaches: A Literature Review

Aid to fight corruption - does it work?

In the mid-nineties, donors started to place more emphasis on anti-corruption efforts in aid. What are the results so far? Norad's Evaluation Department, in cooperation with five other evaluation offices, commissioned a literature review that provided some answers:

• There are few evident successes, and the results of specific anti-corruption efforts have been limited.
• Fight against corruption requires political support, good laws and a functioning court system - all of which are often lacking in poor countries.
• Donors tend to pay too little attention to political and economic conditions and the specific nature of corruption in the particular country. In recent years, analyses of these conditions have increased the understanding of limitations and opportunities in many countries. So far, however, donors have not changed their practice much.
• Voices from the South - and from women and poor people - are rare in the literature.
• Much of the corruption takes place in the service sectors, e.g. as kickbacks in large infrastructure projects or bribes to get water, health or education services. Notwithstanding, specific anti-corruption support to these areas is relatively rare.
• Decentralisation is often seen as a way to bring services closer to people, to increase accountability and openness. It may work, but accountability relations are often more complex than anticipated. In neo-patrimonial systems, public officials are often protected and able to suppress local protests. In some cases decentralisation has lead to more corruption.
• Inconsistent donor practices have sometimes undermined donor demands for increased anti-corruption efforts on the part of partner country governments.

The literature review was commissioned by Norad's Evaluation Department in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank, Danida (Denmark), SADEV (Swedish Agency for Development Evaluation), Sida (Sweden), DFID (United Kingdom) as part of the preparations for a joint evaluation of support to anti-corruption. The review was done by the consultancy company Scanteam.