Aid Agencies Against Corruption

Leaders in the humanitarian community have resolved to do more to address the risks of corruption in relief efforts. Several leading international humanitarian NGOs (World Vision amongst them) have partnered with Transparency International (TI) to better address corruption risks. TI and the NGOs have jointly investigated the risks of corruption and presented their report "Preventing Corruption in Humanitärian Assistance". They are also preparing a handbook to help humanitarian NGOs to prevent corruption.

The report finds that many humanitarian agencies providing relief are well aware of
corruption risks and have already developed a range of policies and practices to prevent it.
Whistleblower policies, codes of conduct for staff, and financial controls are just
some of the measures which the big organizations have already put in place.

However, the humanitarian community at large has not yet addressed this problem in
a comprehensive manner. Humanitarian aid providers could benefit from wider and
more systematic exchange on new approaches and best practices, including
evaluating their effectiveness in mitigating corruption, according to the report.

The Report is a joint publication of Tufts University, the Overseas Development Institute, TI and the NGOs involved. The NGOs involved were: Action Aid, CARE International, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Islamic Relief Worldwide, Lutheran World Federation, Save the Children USA, and World Vision International.

With this report, Transparency International (TI) presents a set of recommendations
to increase transparency and accountability in humanitarian relief, involving financial
and non-financial aspects of practice and policies. A handbook containing good
practices to support humanitarian agencies in their efforts to curb corruption will be
published in 2009.

To download the Report, click here:

Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Assistance Report (PDF) 2008

An handbook containing good practices to support humanitarian agencies in their efforts to curb corruption has also in been published in 2009. To download the Handbook click here:

Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Operations/Handbook (PDF) 2009