The World Bank's Strategy

In 1997, the World Bank began its anticorruption efforts in Eastern Europe and Central Asia with the design of diagnostic tools.  It has since developed a full program of analytic work, technical assistance, training programs and lending instruments targeted towards reducing corruption. More indirectly, it has worked to ensure that transparency and accountability feature prominently in all of its programs and projects, from investments in health and education, to transport and energy. The World Bank and Anti-Corruption in European and Central Asia provides a summary of the ways in hich the World Bank is helping countries in the region reduce corruption. It is not intended to be a full inventory, but rather a brief description of the breadth of our activities.

                               Focus on Diagnostics                                    

To clarify the nature of corruption and to provide societies with tools that would stimulate rational debate on reform priorities, the World Bank pioneered the use of Governance and Anticorruption Diagnostics in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The diagnostic tools involved large-scale surveys of citizens, enterprise managers, and public officials. These surveys aim to initiate a debate about corruption and to raise the profile of anticorruption on the reform agenda.  Other diagnostics used today including public scorecards or report cards on public services and agencies. These draw attention to the best and worst performers and highlight the areas that need to be prioritized for reform.  The World Bank also facilitates the continuous monitoring of corruption in Eastern Europe and Central Asia region through the periodic Business Enterprise and Enterprise Surveys (BEEPS) which look specifically at the quality of the interactions between the state and the private sector  and provide comparative measurements of the quality of governance, the investment climate and the competitive environment, across the region.