USAID/COLOMBIA'S ANTI-CORRUPTION PROGRAM

The "Preventing Corruption in Colombia through Citizen Participation and Strengthening of Governmental Controls" is an important part of USAID/Colombia's Strategic Objective 1 "Promote a More Responsive, Participatory and Accountable Democracy". Initiated in January 2001, this program has two main objectives:

strengthening public sector financial management and control systems and strengthening citizen participation and citizen oversight in the fight against corruption. The goals of each component are summarized below.

Strengthen Government Financial Management and Control Systems

  • Strengthen internal control and audit within the central government so that each GOC ministry and department has an internal control system in place.
  • Strengthen the Ability of the Controller General's Office to evaluate internal control systems.
  • Assist the Accountant General in training municipalities in key departments in financial management, internal control and in releasing financial information to citizens.
  • Serve as a technical resource for the USAID's Local Governance Program in the area of internal control, audit, and training.
  • Strengthen Public Participation
  • Conduct National Public Awareness Campaign working with a coalition of NGOs to raise the awareness of least fifty percent of citizens on rights and responsibilities in fighting corruption.
  • Assistance to NGOs and Citizen's Groups through small-grants.
  • Coordination on Civil Oversight/Social Auditing with USAID's Local Governance Program.

• How is USAID's program strengthening the management of public finances in Colombia

At the national level, the anti-corruption program has brought together a broad coalition of government agencies to strengthen internal control, promote transparency in the use of public resources, and strengthen the capacity of public entities to prevent and detect public fraud. The first step is the establishment of a legal framework that sets the rules and parameters to standardize the internal control system. Then, the Government of Colombia (GOC) ministries and agencies are trained in how to evaluate their current internal control systems and adapting them to the new standard, all in partnership with the GOC's Department for Public Administration. The Controller General's Office and the Auditor General's Office are subsequently trained in controlling and evaluating these systems, ensuring the proper use of public resources at all levels of government. In year 3 or 4 of the program, USAID will assist the Attorney General's Office and the Prosecutor General's office to strengthen their ability to investigate and prosecute instances of public sector corruption. There is a National Government Advisory Committee for Internal Control that is a partner in the process.

USAID is also involved in building the capacity of the office of the Accountant General to train local and departmental governments in internal control, financial management and public ethics in order to mirror the systematization of internal control taking place at the national level.

In order to strengthening internal control systems and financial management at local level, during 2nd and 3rd years, USAID will scope it work in seven cities: Barranquilla, Medellín, Cali, Ibagué, Popayán, Neiva and Pasto. Progressively, will be involving more cities.

• How does USAID's program contribute to the strengthening of citizen participation and citizen oversight

The capacity of civil society to oversee the use of public resources though audits, transparent government contracting and other oversight mechanisms is strengthened. Strengthening these mechanisms combined with strong GOC internal controls will hold the public sector more accountable in the appropriate and transparent use of public resources.

To achieve the above, USAID is working closely with the Presidential Anti-Corruption Program, the Comptroller General's Office and Colombian Confederation of Chambers of Commerce, in the design and implementation of a National Awareness Campaign. The campaign, unfolding over four months with TV and radio spots, expects to reach up to 50 percent of Colombia's adult population. Raised awareness will be followed by a four-year small grants program designed to teach and demonstrate the use of citizen oversight, freedom of information laws, and other instruments of citizen control. A targeted micro-grant fund will provide technical training to communities specifically interested in oversight of public infrastructure projects.

• Colombian Partners

The Anti-corruption Program has established key partnerships with the following public, private and non-governmental organizations:

  • The Presidential Anti-Corruption Program, coordinates the implementation of the President's Anti-Corruption Strategy and demonstrates political will.
  • Civil Society Organizations supported through the small grants program and through direct involvement in the National Awareness Campaign.
  • The Procuraduria General de la Nación (Attorney General's Office)
  • The Office of the Controller General of the Republic, the largest supreme audit institution in the Americas with a staff of 5,200, of whom 331 are professionally qualified auditors.
  • The Department of Public Administration, responsible for coordinating and providing assistance to the various internal control units in the GOC.
  • The Accountant General's Office, the most active GOC agency promoting accountability and transparency at all levels of government.
  • The Auditor General's Office (AGR), responsible for auditing the Controller General's Office. The AGR will also help develop auditing models for all the Departments and Municipalities.
  • The Colombian Confederation of Chambers of Commerce promotes public sector and private sector ethics and transparent government contracting. They have unique outreach capabilities through their 55 local chapters.
  • The Colombian Center of Social Responsibility, created in 1994 by the Inter-American Foundation. This organization promotes the ethics and social responsibility in private and public sector organizations.

• Implementation Mechanism

USAID/Colombia has contracted Casals & Associates To implement this 5-year, US$ 6,000,000 program. Casals has assembled a team of international and Colombian experts that is working closely with USAID and GOC and NGO partners.

• Accomplishments to Date

  • President Andres Pastrana signed a decree setting up new standards to be adopted by the National System of Internal Control. The GOC's Department of Public Administration (DAFP), with USAID technical assistance, drafted the decree.
  • The Accountant General of the Nation, with USAID support, issued an Executive Resolution that will require 3,000 GOC entities to follow the standardized internal control processes recommended by USAID. This resolution complements and amolifies the Presidential Decree.
  • The Controller General's Office and the Accountant General's Office are including USAID's proposed standards for their internal control units. USAID is beginning to work with the Attorney General's Office, the Auditor General's Office and the National Ombudsman's Office to get the standardization of their internal control units by December 2002.
  • USAID provided technical support to the Attorney General's Office in the designing of the New Disciplinary Code (Codigo Unico Disciplinario, Ley 734 del 2002) with stricter rules and more severe punishment for arbitrary or corrupt actions on the part of public employees and officials. They include both acts of commission and acts of omission.
  • In order to implement the Code, the PGN is creating a national database (SIRI) for registering disciplinary sanctions, criminal and civil sentences, and other legal impediments for entry into public service. This database will be used to issue "certificates of sanctions" which is obligatory for all hiring civil contracting in GOC agencies. Information will be also used when investigating somebody under suspicion of wrongful acts and public or private sector hiring. This information will be made available to all citizens through Internet. USAID/Colombia's project, "Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Colombia", is supporting the design, development and implementation of the SIRI, together with the implementation mechanisms for the new disciplinary code. The total amount that will be provided to the PGN is $206,000. So far $106,000 has been used to buy computers and build the database. Additional $100.000 will be used for the development of a new software and for training more than six thousand public officials nation-wide on how to use the new disciplinary code.
  • USAID in joint cooperation with the European Union and the Accountant General's Office is conducting regional workshops for municipal accountants. In 10 workshops, USAID is providing training in accountable internal control systems to 30 public accountants, about 50 mayors and approximately 70 city council members. Today, six regional trainings of municipal accountants were conducted this month in the departments of Cundinamarca, Valle del Cauca, Antioquia, Boyaca, Santander and Bolivar in conjunction with the General Accountant's Office and the European Union. The weeklong sessions focused on internal control, financial management and transparency, and included a session on public ethics. A total of 30 mayors, 80 city council members and 219 municipal accountants attended the trainings. Four additional trainings sessions will be held in different parts of the country in the coming months.
  • At the same time, USAID is implementing a program to provide ethics training to internal control chiefs and public accountants nationwide. A pilot exercise of 10 training sessions has taken place with the Colombian Center of Social Responsibility.
  • As a second phase of the ethics program, the Colombian Center of Social Responsibility is conducting a process to implement ethics systems within the municipalities of Cali, Medellín and Barranquilla.
  • In preparation for the Public Awareness Campaign, USAID conducted a public opinion survey, which indicates a relatively low level of knowledge about the mechanisms, responsibilities and rights that citizens have to combat corruption.
  • In November, USAID-produced anti-corruption TV and radio spots, reached over 23 million Colombians with information detailing their rights and responsibilities in combating corruption. Through the spots, citizens are encouraged to obtain more information from a telephone hot-line set up at the Controller General's Office. Since September, it is estimated that the campaign has reached an estimative television and radio audience of 10 million people per month.
  • Five training-of trainers workshops for citizen participation in transparency have been conducted in Medellín, Pasto, Baranquilla, Bogotá and Villavicencio. During each of these workshops, 120 multipliers from throughout Colombia have been trained to train approximately 16,000 individuals in their respective regions.