Corruption risk assessment (CRA) is a diagnostic tool used by public bodies to identify and prevent the most prevalent and damaging corruption and conflict of interest schemes at institutional, sectoral and local levels. While all jurisdictions in the SEE have introduced some typologies, CRA as an effective anti-corruption measure should be further upgraded as a systematic, structured and continuous process in order to streamline the resources to the most vulnerable corruption points. Special attention should be paid to the institution’s “vulnerable” activities, such as the information security, asset management, collection of taxes, administrative charges, public procurement, payments, issuing licenses. Internal and external control environment must be cultivated including inspections, regulatory bodies, tax and regulatory authorities at central and local level in order to increase systematic defenses to the political corruption which undermines the successful implementation. Effective corruption risk action demands ongoing consultations with CSOs, international organizations, investigative journalists, academia and the private sector in order to develop individualized responses and track changes in risk profile over time.

Objective:
The webinar will gather R2G4P members, anti-corruption agencies, custom, tax authorities, CSOs and international partners to engage in discussion and share examples of promising practices and approaches of CRA diagnostic tools developed at various levels and areas and their impact assessment and which can be introduced in other countries. In parallel, the key issues and challenges related to the development of risk-based approaches and in building open, transparent and reliable data sources in tackling the emerging forms of systematic corruption will be discussed. The role of the regional, international and civil society organizations and their networks in the development of methodologies and diagnostic tools for monitoring and follow up of the governments’ anti-corruption efforts in line with the international anti-corruption standards will be presented.

The event is organized by RAI Secretariat and R2G4P Project partners. The project, coordinated by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Bulgaria benefits from a €1.5 million grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Regional Cooperation. The aim of the project is to implement shared anti-corruption and good governance solutions in SEE through innovative practices and public-private partnerships.