Virtual course on Corruption Risk Assessment on MDG related ministries, departaments and agencies in Nigeria.
Awareness that corruption had a profound and enduring negative effect on Nigerian society inspired local governments inside the State to create a number of anti-corruption institutional arrangements. Nigeria’s constitutional model at a federal level has around twenty agencies that have developed an anti-corruption mandate. Nigeria’s anti-corruption institutional policies aim to attack different aspects of corruption by creating a separate government institution to fight it effectively. As the government realised that institutional coordination was needed, the Inter Agency Task Team (IATT) was established to steer the anti-corruption effort. Within this umbrella, the Technical Unit on Governance and Anticorruption Reforms (TUGAR) serves as the secretariat to the IATT.
The public institutions through which the government implements its policies and programmes, known as the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) play a crucial role in poverty reduction, achieving the MDGs and sustainable development as well. Hence, in line with UNDP’s commitment to respond to the priorities set by the Nigerian Government, which include fighting the malaise of corruption and freeing resources to meet the welfare needs of Nigerians, UNDP is providing support to some of the core anti-corruption agencies for the conduct of corruption risk assessments, CRA, in target MDAs at the National level and in selected States.
The main objective of the corruption risk assessments in MDG related MDAs is to identify vulnerable areas that are prone to corruption, proffer recommendations, and in the context of implementation of the National Strategy to combat corruption jointly with the MDAs developing action plans that would strengthen accountability and transparency towards enhanced public service delivery. This intervention seeks to prevent corruption by identifying problems and giving recommendations to address vulnerable areas that are prone to corruption in the misappropriation and waste of funds designated for the provision of basic services such as water, health care and education, which are crucial for poverty reduction and the achievement of the MDGs.
The UNDP Virtual School has expertise in designing, developing and delivering training initiatives aimed at accompanying UNDP Country Offices, Regional Centres and Thematic Bureaus in their interventions in the field. A collaboration scheme was agreed upon between UNDP CO in Nigeria, TUGAR, ICPC and the Virtual School. Using the documents and reports written by the TUGAR selected group of consultants on the specific features of the CRA methodology for the Nigerian context, a course on CRA on MDG related MDAs in Nigeria has been designed and developed. According to the Nigerian specific context and requirements, a blended-learning approach has been followed, including two face-to-face workshops, one at the beginning of the course and one at the end as well as a full online component in between the two. The course has four main modules:
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Module |
Contents |
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Module 1: Understanding corruption: general definitions and approaches. |
This module gives students a general understanding of the main causes and impacts of corruption under the human development approach. |
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Module 2: Corruption in the Nigerian Context. |
In this module the student will be able to analyse the Nigerian context regarding corruption. |
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Module 3: Corruption Risk Assessment methodology. |
This is the module in which students will be able to identify the components of the methodology and design a CRA plan to be implemented within their organizations. |
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Module 4: Integrity plans. |
In this last module students will be able to propose an integrity plan in order to tackle corruption within their organizations. |
The course has now close to 100 enrolled students coming from different MDAs and NGOs. The course is expected to close in the first week of December and an eventual monitoring of the implementation of the integrity plans will be developed by the UNDP Nigerian CO.
If you would like more information on this course or the Virtual School academic offer on anticorruption please contact Carlos Valdivieso.