Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 06/2010

Preventing Corruption in Humanitarian Operations: Handbook of Good Practices

Roslyn Hees, Marie-Luise Ahlendorf, Stephanie Debere

February 2010

Transparency International

Abstract

The idea for this handbook came from the massive humanitarian response to the Asian tsunami, when the huge levels of resources committed by the international community created concern about new opportunities for corruption. Many international development agencies have put in place corruption prevention polices tailored to development programmes, but there was a noticeable gap in policies for preventing corruption in emergencies. Based on extensive research within and beyond the humanitarian sector, as well as detailed input from the humanitarian community itself, this handbook aims to fill that gap. It offers a menu of good practice tools for preventing and detecting corruption in humanitarian operations.