Success in the fight against corruption requires collective and accelerated action to close the loopholes that corrupt actors and their enablers use to steal, hide, and launder public resources.
Corruption today is not merely a democracy challenge, nor is it something faced by individual communities alone. Instead, it is a globalized phenomenon that crosses national borders and permeates every sector of society. Around the world, kleptocrats, unscrupulous officials, shady business actors, and their associates routinely abuse public contracting, concessions, and procurement processes to divert vast amounts of public funding, draining resources that should be used for the public good. Not only do these actors steal needed resources from the people, they then exploit vulnerabilities in the international financial system to hide, launder, and transfer their ill-gotten gains abroad. Connected to a vast world of illicit finance - as well as an entire industry of professional enablers - these corrupt actors use shell companies and opaque business practices to evade enforcement and abscond with their graft.
With corruption draining the resources of the developing world, there is an urgent need for governments, academia, the media, civil society, and the private sector to come together and take concerted action to close the loopholes that corrupt actors exploit to commit their crimes.
FTI COHORT
Convened after the first Summit for Democracy (S4D) in December 2021, the Financial Transparency and Integrity (FTI) Democracy Cohort is a multi-stakeholder platform co-led by the U.S. government, the Brookings Institution, and the Open Government Partnership. This Cohort unites changemakers representing governments and civil society groups, multilateral and intergovernmental organizations, and businesses to catalyze action on anti-corruption priorities, advance thought leadership, and facilitate peer support and information exchange. At the second Summit for Democracy, the FTI Cohort launched a Pledge, in which participants affirm their commitment to accelerate progress across three anti-corruption priorities:
- Implementation of beneficial ownership requirements - or the disclosure of the “real” owners of companies;
- Transparent and accountable public procurement; and
- Addressing the professional “enablers” of corruption.
The FTI Cohort Call to Action calls on governments, civil society, and the private sector to join in boosting action on these priorities in order to prevent corruption and promote financial transparency and integrity.
- Read the FTI Pledge and Call to Action
- Read the FTI Cohort Fact Sheet
- Read the FTI Cohort’s “Considerations for Governments Working Alongside Civil Society on the Implementation of Beneficial Ownership Transparency”
- Read the FTI Cohorts “Considerations for Governments Working Alongside Civil Society on Procurement Transparency and Integrity”
- Read the FTI Cohorts “Considerations for Governments Working Alongside Civil Society to Address Corruption and Money Laundering Risks in Various “Gatekeeper” Professions and Sectors”
ACCELERATING ACTION
As part of this Pledge, USAID has launched the FTI Accelerator, a suite of programs aimed at addressing the pervasive weaknesses and enabling conditions that allow corrupt actors to loot public resources and divert, hide and launder them around the world. Activities under the FTI Accelerator will:
- Build countries’ resilience to transnational corruption, grand corruption, and kleptocracy;
- Support implementation of beneficial ownership reforms and build the capacity of stakeholders to use beneficial ownership data in priority resource-rich countries;
- Catalyze transparent and accountable public procurement across all development sectors.
- Support international cooperation, collaboration, and mentorship on FTI efforts at the transnational level.
INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE?
If you would like to learn more about the FTI Accelerator, please contact us at FTI@usaid.gov.
To answer the FTI Cohort’s Call to Action or join future engagements of the cohort, please refer to the FTI Cohort Fact Sheet.