PRESENTATION OF THE REGIONAL PROJECT

“SUPPORTING CORRUPTION RISK

MAPPING FOR EFFECTIVE INTEGRITY

REFORMS IN MENA COUNTRIES”

October 12-13, 2016 MENA SBO, Kuwait City, Kuwait Amira TLILI Public Governance Reviews and Partnerships Division Public Governance &Territorial Development Directorate OECD

Bilateral

projects

Regional

collaboration

Support MENA countries

efforts to

• enhance good governance,

• build strong government

institutions resilient to

corruption

Support of MENA-OECD Governance

Programme

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• Financial support of US grant.

• A regional analysis that focuses on the internal control

systems and processes in the MENA region.

• The aim is to valorize the existing processes and practices,

favor the sharing of experiences among countries in the

region and bring it closer to the international standards and

good practices.

Project “the corruption risk mapping for

effective integrity reforms in MENA countries”

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• The need for governments to ensure integrity,

transparency, and accountability has increased following

the financial and economic crisis.

• Internal Control frameworks are recognized as being basic

tools towards preventing, detecting, and responding to

fraud and corruption issues and risks.

Why?

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• It showed to the OECD that there id much appetite for

this topic in the region.

• It highlighted the existant confusion - within the region

and from a country to another - concerning the real role

of the IC and how it should be initiated/applied, by

whom…

Pilot Project on Internal control and Risk

management in Tunisia

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• The focus of this project is to identify the

role of Internal Control arrangements in

identifying and dealing with fraud and

corruption issues.

For what purpose?

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• The basic idea is to provide for a “peer-to-peer” platform

for exchanges of views on Internal Control issues in the

MENA Region, and fostering technical discussions to

identify workable solutions for common challenges.

• A questionnaire was prepared to provide the necessary

data to present a snapshot of the current Internal

Control systems operating in the involved countries.

How?

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7 participating MENA countries

Tunisia

Morocco

Egypt

Jordan

Lebanon

Oman

Palestinian Authority

A broad spectrum of beneficiary institutions

Ministries in charge of public administration and finance

Anti-corruption agencies

Inspectorate bodies

Supreme audit institutions

Who?

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An electronic

survey tool

A series of regional

workshops and

seminars

A regional report

Project components

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An electronic survey tool of 60

targeted questions

To collect relevant country data

and information from

beneficiaries and partners

- for the drafting of a regional

comparative report

- feed in the regional dialogue

and the exchange of views and

practices

1. The survey

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For example:

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The meeting of the MENA Working Group

on Integrity and Civil Service on the 18th of

April 2016 at the OECD headquarter.

A four-day workshop, organized on 29

May - 2 June 2016, in Kuwait City, in

collaboration with the IMF Middle East

Center for Economics and Finance.

2. Regional workshops and seminars

Policy-makers and practitioners in the internal control, audit and anti-corruption fields around the MENA region have gathered to exchange views and best practices for ensuring that sound and robust internal control systems respond effectively to fraud and corruption risks in the public sector

a.

b.

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• Participation of peers from US, France. Germany, the Netherlands, Mexico and Chile.

• It was an occasion to :

– present the project, raise awareness on key concepts and develop capacities for

identified beneficiary institutions.

– discuss the survey in detail – e.g. limitations or difficulties encountered in

answering some questions.

• Feedback from participants on the substance and working methods:

– many governments are undertaking or envisaging reforms of their internal

control frameworks

– the method of peer-learning and policy dialogue, led by leading international

peers and experts, was very appreciated.

a. The meeting of the MENA Working Group on

Integrity and Civil Service

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• Brought together 36 high civil servants, policy-makers and practitioners

from 13 MENA countries, active in:

– Public procurement, infrastructure and Public-Private Partnerships

(PPP) ;

– Internal control, audit and risk management, anti-corruption and anti-

fraud.

• Contributed to unfolding the linkages between internal control and

procurement, with regards to anti-corruption policy and good governance in

PPP and infrastructure projects.

b. The training workshop organized in Kuwait City

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• In providing a peer-to-peer platform for policy dialogue and expert discussions,

participants from the seven MENA countries and beyond, were able to identify

workable solutions to common challenges.

• These solutions broadly fit into 4 strategic recommendations, designed to assist

MENA governments in:

– defining the purpose, scope and attributes of internal control functions and

components,

– ensuring smooth implementation through enhanced resource and material

capacity,

– and specifically targeting fraud and corruption as key risks for public sector

operations.

3. The report “Internal control for effective

integrity and anti-corruption reforms in the MENA

region”

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Thank you for your attention