A joint response to corruption in Uganda: donors beginning to bite?

Given the stagnating trend on corruption in Uganda and the need to consolidate accountability reforms ahead of the inflow of oil revenues, international development partners developed a Joint Response to Corruption (JRTC) in early 2009. This paper clarifies that the implementation of the JRTC has delivered some interesting lessons.

The paper finds that:

• corruption thrives due to the opportunities and incentives provided through international links; therefore, international action and mechanisms are required as well as in-country responses
• the development of a JRTC requires a leader agency that brings on board other development partners to relieve the onus of work
• the success of the JRTC will depend on the commitment of individual agencies to put ideas forward and make resources available to realise the ideas in the areas identified

Lessons learned include:

• there is a need for coordination at the country and headquarters level in order to get agencies to buy into a joint approach
• in taking the JRTC forward there is a fine balance to be struck between a challenging and a collaborative dialogue with the government
• the development partners must maintain flexibility to seize opportunities that could maximise impact
• accordingly, a culture shift is needed towards a more pro-active search for opportunities to take a more consistent stance on corruption
• stronger accountability to the development partners in opposition with the government’s accountability to its citizens should be mitigated
• the development of a strong evidence base and analysis is a critical element of the JRTC

In addition, the document recommends the development partners to be pragmatic, opportunistic and avoid formality as long as a fruitful JRTC is concerned.