Digintegrity in Action: Anti-corruption Solutions
By Maffert Lizcano and Camilo Cetina.
Integrity is essential for formulating public policies and managing public funds in a transparent, inclusive and efficient manner. Digital technologies, by facilitating access to information, the reuse of data and the provision of public services, are strategic tools for consolidating anti-corruption strategies.
CAF supports public institutions in its member countries in leveraging digital solutions to improve public integrity and government transparency, with a focus on public procurement. For example, CAF supports open data policies, data analytics and artificial intelligence platforms that help prevent, detect and investigate corruption.
Recent initiatives promoted by CAF in the area of public integrity and digital innovation include notably:
- Support to the governments of Ecuador and Panama in the implementation of the Inter-American Open Data Program to Combat Corruption (PIDA). The initiative seeks to improve decision-making, monitor government actions and prevent corruption risks in the implementation of public policies, by opening more than 30 data sets such as public procurement, public spending, public administration, among others. Work has been done on building a short-, medium- and long-term roadmap to open up these datasets in open data portals.
- In partnership with the Inter-American Network on Government Procurement (INGP), we documented the quality of the data available on the procurement platforms of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Paraguay as part of an initiative for the prevention of corruption through transparency and data analytics in public procurement systems. A guide for the identification of corruption risks in public procurement with data science was developed, and early warning algorithms on irregularities in public procurement are being developed. A pilot was conducted using information and data from the procurement systems of Ecuador and Paraguay.
- We support Colombia’s Secretariat of Transparency of the Presidency of in the consolidation of its General System of Transparency and Fight Against Corruption, through the development of the Anti-Corruption Portal of Colombia (PACO), a technology platform to support the prevention and detection of early warnings. Applying advanced analytics and data science will help us achieve a better understanding of the risks of corruption and provide data, information and results to the authorities for informed decision making. Similarly, this platform will facilitate people’s participation and oversight.
- Support to the government of Jalisco in Mexico in the development of its portal of transparency and open data for infrastructure works of the Institute of Transparency, Public Information and Protection of Personal Data. We contributed to the adoption of the international transparency standard for infrastructure works of the CoST initiative. This platform allows us to view more than 30 major infrastructure works in open and duly georeferenced data, for a value in the excess of USD 520 million, and that benefits more than 17 million people. This initiative has inspired other local governments such as Bogotá’s in Colombia.
- Support for the adoption of open data standards for emergency public procurement in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Paraguay, in partnership with the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP). This initiative has disclosed more than USD 3 billion in public procurement to address the health emergency in these countries. In this connection, CAF has collaborated with the government of Mexico City in the implementation of the Tianguis Digital project, whose main objective is to support the regional open public procurement agenda through three computer modules.
Promoting integrity and preventing corruption are key dimensions of the recovery programs promoted by governments in the region. Corruption causes the squandering of already scarce resources, lower productivity, poor-quality public goods and services, and policies captured by individual interests to the detriment of the public good. This exacerbates inequalities, undermines the legitimacy of the government and the trust of its citizens. Therefore, prevention of corruption is central to advancing towards the sustainable development goals and targets for 2030.
With the pandemic, digital acceleration has become a great ally in the fight against corruption and the promotion of public integrity, through open data and digital technologies. Digitalization took hold as aanti-corruption strategy. In 2019, CAF published a report on integrity in public policies that already highlighted the potential of digital tools in the fight against corruption.
In 2022, CAF will publish a new report documenting how new technologies and digital innovations are transforming the fight against corruption and that will propose strategies for governments to adopt digital transformation as a cornerstone of their integrity policies.
