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Reforming Nepal's education system for greater integrity and improved outcomes

Nepal’s education sector faces ongoing integrity and accountability challenges, but reforms in governance, auditing, and local oversight could make investments more effective.

28 November 2025

Seeing the whole picture: Why corruption data must be disaggregated

Detailed, granular, useable data is a foundation for improved anti-corruption and anti-bribery work. We first need to ask the right questions – then make proper use of what we find.

28 November 2025

Closing the donor gap on health corruption: taking bilateral and multilateral agencies’ engagement from policy to practice

Bilateral donors and multilateral agencies can significantly increase the impact of their health aid by directly tackling corruption.

Who controls COP30? Confronting corporate influence and closing integrity gaps in global climate governance

Lobbying and corruption are major challenges to meeting our climate targets. Conflict-of-interest rules within the UNFCCC would benefit from moving beyond fragmented internal rules toward a coherent and enforceable framework that governs all participants.

11 November 2025

Getting the law on sexual corruption right: Why a ‘do no harm’ approach is essential

Case studies from Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Sweden show that legal recognition is vital – and that legislation must address power imbalances and avoid criminalising the victims.

7 November 2025

From the blog

Blog
Seeing the whole picture: Why corruption data must be disaggregated
Detailed, granular, useable data is a foundation for improved anti-corruption and anti-bribery work. We first need to ask the right questions – then make proper use of what we find.
28 November 2025
Blog
Who controls COP30? Confronting corporate influence and closing integrity gaps in global climate governance
Lobbying and corruption are major challenges to meeting our climate targets. Conflict-of-interest rules within the UNFCCC would benefit from moving beyond fragmented internal rules toward a coherent and enforceable framework that governs all participants.
11 November 2025
Blog
Getting the law on sexual corruption right: Why a ‘do no harm’ approach is essential
Case studies from Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Sweden show that legal recognition is vital – and that legislation must address power imbalances and avoid criminalising the victims.
7 November 2025
Blog
Ukraine needs to avoid the social conflict model of anti-corruption
Ukraine’s anti-corruption system has held firm under fire — but trust is fragile. A look at Serbia’s experience shows how quickly success can unravel if reform turns into rivalry.
3 November 2025
Blog
Government by AI: We are not ready for the consequences in anti-corruption
2025 has witnessed the first government ‘minister’ that is purely AI. We can’t foresee all the risks, but planning frameworks can help integrate this technology safely – for the benefit of all.
24 October 2025
Blog
Measuring integrity and corruption risks: OECD’s Public Integrity Indicators
The PIIs are objective measures of countries’ integrity. Their impact is growing beyond OECD governments as other countries join – to the benefit of investors, researchers, and donors
21 October 2025
Blog
We made a data viz tool tracking enforcement against corruption in the UK. Here’s what we learned.
Findings and lessons from Spotlight on Corruption’s Anti-Corruption Enforcement Tracker – and how other researchers and campaigners could apply them.
12 September 2025
Blog
Unrest in the world’s third largest democracy
Protestors in Indonesia accuse the government of abusing power and securing privileges despite anti-corruption promises.
10 September 2025
Blog
Behind bars, beyond justice: confronting corruption in the prison system
The anti-corruption community should view prisons not as the end of justice, but as institutions in urgent need of reform and accountability.
26 August 2025

Latest publications

U4 Issue
Reforming Nepal's education system for greater integrity and improved outcomes
Nepal’s education sector faces ongoing integrity and accountability challenges, but reforms in governance, auditing, and local oversight could make investments more effective.
28 November 2025
Education
U4 Helpdesk Answer
The impact of selected anti-corruption measures on economic growth
Selected anti-corruption reforms—such as open contracting and foreign bribery enforcement—are shown to boost economic growth and improve institutional quality, but their success is often delayed and highly dependent on existing institutional quality.
14 October 2025
Procurement
Public financial management
U4 Helpdesk Answer
Public-private partnerships for financial information sharing
Public-private partnerships for financial information sharing (FISPs) have rapidly proliferated as a means to counter illicit finance and corruption by facilitating voluntary information exchange beyond standard reporting, though their effectiveness is tempered by concerns over data protection and potential conflicts between public and private interests.
14 October 2025
Illicit financial flows
U4 Helpdesk Answer
Vietnam: Corruption and anti-corruption
Pervasive corruption in Vietnam continues to undermine its economic development and impede progress toward its climate change mitigation goals, despite the government's highly publicised "burning furnace" anti-corruption campaign.
13 October 2025
Anti-corruption basics
Climate change
U4 Helpdesk Answer
What are AML/CFT risks of mobile money services and regulatory approaches to mitigate these risks?
Navigating the intersection of mobile money and Anti-Money Laundering / Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulation requires a delicate balance: while robust measures are essential to safeguard financial integrity, they must be proportionate to avoid undermining financial inclusion for vulnerable populations.
9 October 2025
Illicit financial flows
U4 Brief
Closing the donor gap on health corruption: taking bilateral and multilateral agencies’ engagement from policy to practice
Bilateral donors and multilateral agencies can significantly increase the impact of their health aid by directly tackling corruption.
3 October 2025
Health
Public service delivery
Development cooperation
U4 Helpdesk Answer
Harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) for anti-corruption
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly being adopted in anti-corruption efforts, enhancing prevention through predictive analytics and improving detection via advanced data and image analysis. However, its effective deployment introduces challenges related to data quality, model transparency, and privacy.
1 October 2025
Anti-corruption basics
U4 Issue
Strengthening multilateral aid oversight: A joint roadmap for anti-corruption safeguards
Donors can curb corruption risks with multilateral organisations by enhancing framework agreements and working together to build coalitions, align standards, and strengthen monitoring.
23 September 2025
Corruption risk management and integrity
Development cooperation
U4 Brief
Reforming money politics to reduce environmental harm
Evidence links political finance to climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, and reform efforts are emerging – such as civil society monitoring, international transparency initiatives, and national advocacy campaigns.
19 September 2025
Politics of anti-corruption

Learning and Events

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Supporting anti-corruption in Syria’s transition: how credible is the agenda and what can donors do?

U4 partner forum to share our latest research on anti-corruption efforts in post-Assad Syria.

3 December 2025

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Ecuador – Corruption risk management

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Anti-corruption in fragile and conflict-affected states

3-week, expert-led course. Understand why and how approaches to anti-corruption in fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS) require tailored and alternative approaches. This course is designed for development practitioners, public officials, and civil society activists working across all development sectors who work in or are preparing to work in FCAS.

2 February 2026

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Browse our topics

Anti-corruption agencies

How to assess and improve anti-corruption institutions' performance.

Updated 17 July 2025

Anti-corruption basics

The conditions that facilitate corruption and the general implications for development programming.

Updated 24 September 2025

Anti-corruption courts

Find information on why we may need specialised anti-corruption courts including possible designs and performance analyses.

Updated 17 July 2025

Auditing and financial control

Auditing and controls are essential parts of public financial management. Supreme Audit Institutions play a visible role, and support to strengthen these institutions has amplified. These institutions can be subject to political interference, politicisation, and wing-clipping.

Updated 19 May 2025

Budget process

Government income and expenditure are determined and allocated in the budget process. This process is usually divided into four or five stages, and corruption may influence all of them.

Updated 19 May 2025

Civil society

People at large can play an important role in holding power to account and addressing problems of corruption.

Updated 8 July 2025

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Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation – Norad

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency – Sida

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation – SDC

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The U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre works to reduce the harmful impact of corruption on society. U4 is a permanent centre at Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway.

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