Staff filled the H auditorium for the launch of the governance and anti-corruption implementation plan

Zoellick was speaking at a panel discussion—which included Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, managing director; Jeff Gutman, vice president for OPCS; Sanjay Pradhan, director for public sector governance in PREM; and was moderated by Danny Leipziger, vice president for  PREM—that officially kicked-off the implementation of the  Governance and Anti-Corruption (GAC) strategy.

Innovation in Governance

“I know we can handle this challenge successfully, in part because we already are,”  Zoellick said. He cited several examples of innovations in governance, including
citizens’ groups in India and Ukraine publishing report cards on the quality of public education; Boy Scouts monitoring delivery of school books in the Philippines; and observers riding with trucks in Indonesia to monitor stoppages for bribe, among others.

Leipziger cited two guiding principles: that GAC and development effectiveness are the same, and that GAC is part of everyone’s work. “There can't be two agendas—there is not a development agenda and then a governance agenda. This is one unified agenda; managing it is both the individual and collective responsibility of all of us.”

Frontiers in Implementation

Pradhan said implementation is pushing the frontier in five areas:

• Building comprehensive country governance and anti-corruption implementation plan (CGAC) processes into country assistance strategies. Regional vice presidents have identified twenty-six CGAC countries; 
• Mainstreaming governance in all our sectoral work;
• Designing smart projects that systematically address risk of corruption.
• Engaging with civil society and the private sector to strengthen the demand for good governance;
• Encouraging developed countries and the private sector to combat transnational corruption;
• Staffing strategically to address knowledge gaps in governance and anticorruption—the Regions are trying new approaches, such as deploying more field-based governance advisors, setting up GAC advisory committees in country teams, and developing regional hubs for governance. 

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that countries should map out their own governance and anti-corruption agendas

Don’t Be Risk Averse, Be Smart

Still pending is the integration of the recommendations of the working group that reviewed the Volcker Panel into the overall implementation of GAC. According to Gutman, who is heading up the working group, there have been extensive internal and external comments which are being reviewed by the group for incorporation into a final set of recommendations in January.

These recommendations address issues of process, roles and responsibilities, and disclosure relating to external investigations and implementation reviews; INT's potential for non-investigative services, especially support services to operations and partner countries; and procedures regarding internal investigations and the transfer of responsibility for investigation of certain types of staff misconduct from INT to another unit.

In this area, Zoellick said he expected staff not to be risk-averse. “Be aggressive and innovative in trying to help our clients and partners…but at the same time, smart and not rash as you do so.”

Zoellick said staff play a crucial role in identifying potential problems: “If you think something is wrong with a client or a partner, don’t keep it a secret…That is the key to effective risk management.”
 

Jeff Gutman updated staff on the activities of the working group that is reviewing the Volcker panel's  recommendations

Okonjo-Iweala noted the StAR initiative, and said, “The Bank is being seen not only as working with the developing countries but also as saying to developed countries,  ‘Look, if you have monies and assets that have been taken out of developing countries, and you are keeping them, you are part of the problem, and you need to do something about it.’ ” 

Okonjo-Iweala, recently Finance Minister of Nigeria, in her first appearance before staff since her return to the Bank, described the impact of a governance strategy in Nigeria.

With the support of the Bank and Fund in carrying out fiscal reforms, the country saw its reserves jump from $7 billion to $38 billion. “Today we are at $50 million,” she said, “much of that money could have gone out as money that would have been wasted and maybe corruptly taken by vested interests.”

Some efforts, she said, were very simple, like increasing transparency just by posting government revenues monthly so that citizens knew whether and how their money was spent on social services

Okonjo-Iweala also stressed the importance of country ownership: “They should be able to map out their agenda, because it is easier to fight when the countries have a program and they are in the lead. There are so many vested interests in this fight, and one should not underestimate that, but by the same token, there are also people who are fighting out there.”

Sanjay Pradhan said, "The last 18 months have generated enormous momentum for the governance agenda, and created a strong institutional foundation  for us to move forward."

“The governance and anti-corruption work cuts across everything that we do,” said Zoellick, citing such examples as the use of assets in resource-rich poor countries, the risks of return to violence in post-conflict countries, and the importance of improved fiscal management systems in middle-income countries, among others.

Zoellick stressed that this work “is first and foremost an ethical responsibility…the work that we are doing on governance and anti-corruption is the right thing to do, and it has to be at the heart of everything we do.”

Read the full transcript of this event.

Questions were received from country offices ahead of time and from staff at the event. Read them here. Contributed by Audrey Liounis, EXTIC