"Leveraging E-Government for Successful Anti-Corruption Programs" Chair: Philippe Dongier (Sector Manager, CITPO, World Bank) Speakers: Nancy Zucker Boswell (President and CEO, Transparency International USA) Knut Leipold (Senior Procurement Specialist, OPCPR, World Bank) Basheerhamad Shadrach (Asia Senior Program Officer, International Development Research Center, India)  Commentator/Co-Chair: Daniel Kaufmann (Director, Global Programs, World Bank Institute)  Participating Countries: Armenia, India, Paraguay, Russia, Sri Lanka  Information communication technologies (ICT) -- and e-government more broadly -- is widely seen as a powerful tool to enhance service delivery and government effectiveness as part of administrative reform agenda. Yet, have we investigated sufficiently the role it can play in anti-corruption activities? This seminar seeks to discuss the role of ICT and e-government in the Bank's current anti-corruption agenda and generate discussion now that the Bank is looking for specific instruments to implement its new anti-corruption and governance strategy.  For example, how can e-government/ICT tools enhance anti-corruption efforts by the Bank and its client countries? Should anti-corruption become an explicit objective and design principle in order to close all possible loopholes when introducing e-government/IT systems in tax, procurement, customs and other areas? Can e-government serve as the "Trojan Horse" in difficult reform environments when more direct approaches are not politically feasible?   Should anti-corruption become one of the key objectives of an e-government strategy? What are the pros and cons of giving more prominence to e-government/ICT tools in anti-corruption efforts by the Bank and its client countries? Can e-government programs lead to more corruption? What should Bank TTLs and clients do differently to leverage e-government tools more effecrtively?  We have invited several Bank and external experts to discuss these issues and the role of ICT in anti-corruption and governance agenda from different perspectives.  Nancy Zucker Boswell (President & CEO, Transparency International-USA) will present from a perspective of a leading international NGO in the anti-corruption area on TI's views of the key entry points for leveraging e-government opportunities to combat corruption.  Knut Leipold (Senior Procurement Specialist, OPCPR) will provide an overview of the Bank's and clients experience in fighting corruption with ICT and will in particular focus on how ICT can dramatically reduce corruption in the public procurement area.  Basheerhamad Shadrach (Asia Senior Program Officer, IDRC, India) will provide a developing country perspective on using ICT for anticorruption in India across sectors and regions.  Finally, Daniel Kaufmann (Director, Global Governance, WBI) will provide a commentary and discuss implications and possible next steps for the World Bank Group to leverage e-government and IT tools for anticorruption work as an aspect of implementing the Bank's governance and anticorruption strategy. |
RSS