Press Release
3 December 2008
World Bank launches new anti-corruption programme
The World Bank today launched a Governance Partnership Facility to help
developing countries strengthen governance programmes and further the fight
against corruption. This new Facility has the support of the governments of the
United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Norway.
“Transparent public institutions and the fight against corruption are key for
poverty reduction and economic growth,” said Danny Leipziger, World Bank Vice
President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management. “The current financial
crisis shows how important transparency, good governance and effective
regulation are in all parts of the world.”
The US $65 million Governance Partnership Facility (GPF), launched in the lead
up to Anti-Corruption Day on December 9th, is a four-year initiative funded by
the UK Department for International Development (up to £30m pounds – US $44.7m)
the Netherlands (10m Euros – US $13m), and Norway (50m Kroner – US $7.6m), with
the World Bank providing matching funding.
“I believe that good governance is at the heart of development and poverty
reduction,” said UK Minister for International Development Ivan Lewis. “DFID is
committed to the global effort to build effective states that serve the needs of
their citizens and stamp out corruption. The Governance Partnership Facility
being launched today will help create the conditions that will enable millions
of people in the developing world to step up from poverty.”
The GPF also complements the World Bank’s efforts in the area of good governance
and provides additional resources with which country teams can ramp up their
efforts to help governments to improve their internal accountability and provide
better services to their citizens.
“This is a major additional step in our continuing efforts to focus on better governance in the fight on poverty,” said Leipziger. “In light of the weak outlook for global growth in 2009, the role of government becomes even more crucial in sheltering the vulnerable and keeping up development momentum,” he added.
“Dutch taxpayers’ money must be used for poverty reduction”, said the
Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation Bert Koenders. “Corruption and
bad governance obstruct equitable development of poor countries and that is
unacceptable. Through the Governance Partnership Facility we will be able to
leverage our efforts in the field of governance and anticorruption and work in
truly innovative ways with our strategic partners.”
Erik Solheim, Minister of the Environment and International Development, Norway,
said: “It is estimated that several hundred billions of US dollars are illicitly
transferred from developing countries each year. This undermines the
mobilization of domestic resources, reduces funding for development, facilitates
criminal activities, weakens accountability and increases inequality. Norway has
great expectations that activities supported through the Governance Partnership
Facility will help countervail this trend by strengthening the fight against
corruption at the country level.”
The Facility will:
- Support the implementation of governance and anticorruption programs in developing countries – particularly in poor and fragile states, such as Afghanistan, Burundi, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Haiti.
- Fund cutting-edge work, such as innovative partnerships with civil society, to ensure that public money is used effectively.
- Finance learning and knowledge in the area of governance and anticorruption.
The resources from the GPF will be available through a competitive process, by which World Bank country offices, working with donor counterparts, submit proposals to the Facility so that cutting-edge work can be funded.
For further press information contact Alejandra Viveros (World Bank) +1 202 468 3909 aviveros@worldbank.org or Cameron Millar (DFID) +44 207 023 1100 c-millar@dfid.gov.uk
