The Basel Institute on Governance is delighted to announce it has recently become an affiliated partner to the Network of Corruption Prevention Authorities (NCPA).

The NCPA Network was launched in 2018 to address the need for cooperation between anti-corruption authorities at the operational level. The size, powers, activities and visibility of anti-corruption authorities around the world varies greatly.

In some cases, they play a major role in developing anti-corruption strategies and policies for their countries, translating international standards like the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) into domestic action. In others, they don't yet exist.

Through the Network, the nearly 30 members and affiliates have a platform to:

• exchange technical information
• share good practices
• find concrete solutions to common challenges – which, in the field of corruption prevention, are many and varied.

The Basel Institute and corruption prevention

At the Basel Institute we have direct experience of the potential of national anti-corruption agencies to prevent corruption, especially when their efforts are strengthened through peer learning.

For example, experts in governance, asset recovery and private-sector Collective Action from across the Basel Institute supported Malawi's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) last year with its review of the country's National Anti-Corruption Strategy. The new strategy's implementation, which we are also supporting, is already leading to tangible benefits for Malawian citizens. In parallel, Malawi's ACB is unearthing new corruption risks and developing mitigating measures in districts across the country thanks to a risk assessment methodology shared through a peer-learning exercise with our Public Finance Management colleagues in Peru.

National anti-corruption authorities are also key to achieving the goal of making Collective Action against corruption a global norm. Gemma Aiolfi, Head of Compliance and Collective Action at the Basel Institute, explains:

“As the NCPA's recent survey of anti-corruption authorities reveals, many national anti-corruption agencies are tasked with designing and implementing their country's anti-corruption strategy, or are at least involved in contributing to its development. This means they are well placed to include Collective Action as part of the private sector's compliance programme. This could also help to close the gap identified in the survey regarding the uneven dissemination of anti-corruption standards in the private sector.”

How the NCPA Network can help

The NCPA Network provides an opportunity for its members to share experiences and identify good practices. As well as the above-mentioned mapping of anti-corruption authorities around the world, for example, the Network has published technical guides to codes of conduct and corruption risk assessments.

Crucially, the Network also helps members replicate approaches that are conducive to developing more effective anti-corruption strategies that include both the private and public sectors. The growing range of partnerships between the NCPA Network and other international bodies is further evidence of the importance of coordinated, multi-stakeholder action against corruption. This is an approach that the Basel Institute endorses and supports.

A joint initiative of the Italian Autorità Nazionale AntiCorruzione (ANAC), French Agençe Française Anticorruption (AFA) and Serbian Anti-Corruption Agency (ACAS), the NCPA Network operates within the framework of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the Council of Europe's anti-corruption body.

We look forward to helping the NCPA Network achieve its ambition to strengthen peer-to-peer cooperation in corruption prevention around the world – and thereby stopping corruption before it occurs.