Transparency International USA

Transparency International USA works with TI chapters around the world to attack systemic corruption by promoting reforms by government, private sector and international organizations to increase transparency, integrity and accountability.

Why do we exist?

Transparency International USA promotes reforms by government, private sector and international organizations to reduce the corrosive impact of corruption on economic development, legitimate business, humanitarian assistance, environmental, food and drug safety controls, border security and public trust.  Transparency International USA (TI – USA) is the U.S. chapter of Transparency International (TI), the global civil society organization leading the fight against corruption.
Experts estimate that over $1 trillion in bribes are paid annually, with $1.5 trillion in public purchasing tainted by bribery, fraud, collusion and other forms of corruption.  Every year, $40 billion in stolen assets – equivalent to almost half of all development assistance funds – flow out of countries most in need of those funds.  Diversion of funds means the quality and quantity of public services suffers, wealth and power is further concentrated with corrupt elites, and citizen access to markets, the law, and politics is diminished.
TI – USA works in collaboration with the TI global network spanning over 90 countries around the world to address the systemic sources of corruption, one of the greatest barriers to effective development, poverty alleviation and responsible natural resource and environmental management.  TI - USA also encourages the U.S. government to integrate transparency and anti-corruption into development assistance, trade and economic policies.

TI - USA works in cooperation with expert volunteers and the TI global network to:

• Mobilize public officials, business leaders, and legal and accounting professionals to develop and adopt the tools, laws and systems that will reduce corruption and increase accountability.
• Provide policy input on anticorruption legislation as well as accountability mechanisms for development assistance institutions and programs.
• Promote and monitor implementation of anticorruption initiatives.
• Develop practical tools for managing corruption risks.

What have you accomplished?

As Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General, said: “Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately, by diverting funds intended for development, undermining a government's ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice, and discouraging foreign investment and aid."

For those who work to improve the lives of the poor around the world, corruption perpetually threatens to undo their efforts.  Development assistance donors, humanitarian assistance organizations, and philanthropists all recognize that corruption is not only a cause of poverty but also a “cancer” on their work.  It is the single greatest barrier to aid effectiveness.  TI-USA constructively engages the leadership of development assistance donor organizations to keep them accountable on their anticorruption efforts, and provides them with expertise and stakeholder feedback.  TI - USA also closes the accountability loop between donor leadership and the global TI network of more than 90 locally established national chapters and chapters-in-formation. 

With half the world’s population living on less than US $2 per day, TI – USA works with development assistance donors to support their efforts to address the threat of corruption and improve the effectiveness of aid in two ways:
1. Aid Integrity: Donors must ensure that aid funds reach their intended purposes by preventing, detecting, and responding to corruption.
2. Governance Reform:  Donors must support governance and anti-corruption reforms that increase transparency, public accountability, and make the developing world more attractive to investment.
TI’s policy advice to the World Bank—a recent leader in anticorruption reforms—provides a comprehensive reform plan for all donors:

• Donor leadership should commit to addressing corruption.
• Donor’s incentive structure should reward attention to corruption.
• Donors should adopt a presumption of transparency of internal policy and project documents, investigative reports, and country documents related to donor funding. Access to information should be a baseline requirement for receiving aid.
• An independent investigative unit should pursue corruption allegations and provide preventive advice to donors and developing governments.
• Contractors should be required to adopt anticorruption codes and should be sanctioned if found to be corrupt.
• Donors should promote increased supervision and transparency measures for procurement.
• Donors should engage civil society in policy development, project supervision, and evaluation.

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