USAID/Armenia Mobilizes Action Against Corruption
To help develop a comprehensive approach to counter corruption in Armenia, USAID’s Mobilizing Action Against Corruption (MAAC) project, with co-funding from UNDP and collaboration with the Government of Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Strategy Monitoring Commission, recently organized a conference in Yerevan to mark the development of a new National Anti-corruption Strategy. The MAAC activity is a component of the U.S. development assistance program to Armenia aimed at reducing corruption on both ground and system levels through providing technical assistance and training to the Government of Armenia agencies and to civil society organizations.
U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Joseph Pennington, UNDP Resident Representative Consuelo Vidal, Special Representative of the Council of Europe Secretary General Bojana Urumova, OSCE Deputy Head of Office Marc Bojanic, and the Chairman of Anti-Corruption Strategy Monitoring Commission Gevorg Mheryan delivered opening remarks at the conference, which was attended by state officials, representatives of government agencies, NGOs, media, and the international community.
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| One of the main objectives of the MAAC Conference was to inform general public, civil society activists and international community of the Armenian Government’s new multi-year Anti-Corruption Strategy |
Key conference objectives were to make the general public, civil society activists and international donor community aware of the Government of Armenia’s new multi-year anti-corruption strategy, action plan, and monitoring system with key performance indicators; inform the development of new Anti-corruption Strategy (Phase 1) by inviting stakeholders to present their viewpoints and recommendations for the new strategy in terms of priorities, policy directions, and content of the strategy paper; and, introduce the USAID/Armenia Mobilizing Action Against Corruption (MAAC) project to stakeholders and the public.
“The conference marks the start of public discussion on anti-corruption, seeking the people’s contribution in the development of the strategy,” said Pennington. “Corruption is not a problem unique to any one region or country: It is a global challenge.” He noted the “extremely high price” of corruption in view of its political, economic and social costs as well as impact on the country’s democratic development.
Launched in July 2007, and designed as a comprehensive anti-corruption initiative, MAAC is working to reduce corruption at all levels by providing Armenians with opportunities to combat corrupt practices that they encounter, changing social attitudes and behavior among youth and adults to help them become attuned to the consequences of corruption and more likely to oppose or confront corruption, and enabling systems-level changes to prevent or reduce corruption.
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