What is public governance?

'Public Governance' is the response to the challenges of globalisation in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and responsiveness facing the public sector. It also addresses the dramatic changes that regulation and management of society have undergone over the past decades. Public governance seeks to understand and conceptualize appropriate forms of state-society relations that are capable of responding to this complex environment. By addressing institutional capacity and constituting the framework for equitable and legitimate political structures, it has become a key concept for public management reform.

In the area of public governance, the Basel Institute offers advice in the development and implementation of public sector policies and strategies to foster governance and combat corruption. Based on a comprehensive multi-stakeholder approach sensitive to the specific context, it supports the design of national and sector-specific anti-corruption strategies and advises on the implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption and other relevant international standards and instruments. The Institute contributes to raising awareness and informing concerned parties about concrete governance issues in capacity building seminars, conferences and field missions, and facilitates knowledge-transfer and multi-stakeholder dialogue. Work in this area has in the past been carried out in such diverse environments as, amongst others, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bolivia, Pakistan, South-Eastern Europe, Vietnam, and various countries from Africa and the West Indies.

Efforts are further under way to set up an international competence centre on asset recovery within the Basel Institute, providing a wide range of training courses and consultancy services and conducting research in this field. The key objective of the centre will be to assist relevant authorities in developing and developed countries in the enhancement of their capacities in seizure, confiscation and the recovery of proceeds of corruption, money laundering and related crimes.

On an academic level, the Basel Institute is involved in developing a research methodology of governance that is able to capture a more appropriate understanding of governance, including the political dynamics of non-state actors. To this end, the Basel Institute is planning to organise an international conference on 'the role of non state actors as standard setters and the erosion of the public/private-divide' at the end of 2006.

Kenya (on-going): UN Convention against Corruption compliance review/gap analysis of Kenya, in cooperation with the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission and UNODC, and funded by GTZ.
> For further information contact zora.ledergerber(at)baselgovernance.org

Bangladesh (November 2007-February 2008): UN Convention against Corruption compliance review/gap analysis of Bangladesh, in cooperation with the BRAC University Centre for Governance Studies in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
> Download final reportgretta.fenner(at)baselgovernance.org

Asia-Pacific (September 2007): Organisation of regional seminar on MLA and asset recovery in Asia-Pacific, in cooperation with the Corruption Eradication Commission of Indonesia and ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia-Pacific, and in association with UNODC. Supported by GtZ and the US State Department.
> Background and further information

Indonesia (May/June 2007): Country study of Indonesia for the U4 project "Anti-corruption policy making in practice: what can we learn for UNCAC implementation?"
> Download full report from U4 website 

Serbia (2007): Organisation of two-day "Belgrade Transparency Days" for the Anti-Corruption Council of Serbia, supported by the Swiss Embassy in Belgrade, on the role of Supreme Audit Institutions in combating corruption and enhancing transparency in public finance management.
> Background and further information

Global (2003-2006): Various anti-corruption research projects commissioned by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, e.g. anti-corruption check-list, and inventory of state-of-the-art of successful instruments and lessons learnt in the fight against corruption.

Serbia-Montenegro (2006): Organisation of the two-day "Belgrade Anti-Corruption Days" for the Anti-Corruption Council of Serbia, supported by the Swiss Government, and with the participation of Swiss and UK experts in corruption prevention, investigation and prosecution, money laundering, and international judicial assistance in criminal matters

Malawi (2006): Sector assessment of the horizontal accountability institutions, commissioned by UNDP

Indonesia (2006): UNCAC compliance review, commissioned by GtZ

Pakistan (2005 and 2006): Capacity building and policy advice in anti-money laundering techniques and on strengthening customer due diligence processes in financial institutions.

South Eastern Europe (2005): Glossary on "International anti-corruption standards with examples of national legal practice", commissioned by the Anti-Corruption Network for Transition Economies.

Bhutan (2005): Analysis of anti-corruption provisions in the Penal Code of Bhutan.

South Eastern Europe (2005): Scoping paper on “International cooperation to fight corruption in South Eastern Europe – Achievements, lessons learned and future challenges”, commissioned by the Anti-Corruption Network for Transition Economies with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Vietnam (2000): Seminar on anti-corruption, and consulting on drafting of anti-corruption legislation.

Bolivia (1996 and 1998): Revision and development of economic criminal law and anti-money laundering law of Bolivia.

Bulgaria (1998): Seminar on the prevention of bribery, in cooperation with the Swiss Embassy in Sofia.

Trinidad-Tobago (2000): Analysis of AML legislation and regulation, workshop with Swiss and Caribbean regulators and bankers, including CFATF, G7 and EU.

Belarus (1996): Seminar with the Council of Europe on transnational organised crime for militia and secret service members.