Publication:
Reducing Corruption : Lessons from Venezuela

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (367.68 KB)
703 downloads
English Text (16.18 KB)
114 downloads
Published
2000-05
ISSN
Date
2012-08-13
Editor(s)
Abstract
Providing information to the public is an essential but insufficient step in making local government more transparent. A participatory process is also needed, both to ensure accountability and to reinforce healthy relationships between people and government. Empirical data linked to a participatory program for institutional reform are key for eliciting broad interest in administrative organization--enabling citizens to improve municipal management. A recent World Bank program in Campo Elias, Venezuela, used an innovative and effective approach to build participatory institutional frameworks and to apply best practices in public policymaking. As a result corruption has fallen and services are delivered more efficiently. The program, which ran from April 1998 to December 1999, involved the World Bank Institute, the municipal government, and civil society. The experience shows the powerful benefits that come when local political will, technical capacity to execute reforms, and strong partnership with civil society are mixed to enhance efficiency, equity, and transparency.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Gonzalez de Asis, Maria. 2000. Reducing Corruption : Lessons from Venezuela. PREM Notes; No. 39. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11434 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Civic Engagement in Procurement : A Review of Eight International Case Studies
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-11-01) World Bank
    Procurement monitoring is a relatively new field for civic engagement. This paper is a collection of eight selected cases studies which aim to provide examples of practices that have emerged globally in recent years. The objective is not to offer 'blueprints' or ready-made solutions to the challenge of civic monitoring, but rather to highlight some of the broader complexities underpinning the successful development of new approaches. The cases studies are designed to explore how different mechanisms of civic engagement are forged within specific social and political contexts, and, more importantly, how the nature of such engagement changes over time. In particular, the studies focus on understanding the driving forces behind the process as it evolved the impact of the intervention, and the potential for replication at greater scale. While each case study can be viewed as a 'standalone' example, it is also important to emphasize the value of the collection in terms of developing the discussion of common principles of civic engagement in procurement.
  • Publication
    The Role of Parliaments in Curbing Corruption
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006) Stapenhurst, Rick; Johnston, Niall; Pelizzo, Riccardo
    In most countries, Parliament has the constitutional mandate to both oversee government and to hold government to account; often, audit institutions, ombuds and anti-corruption agencies report to parliament, as a means of ensuring both their independence from government and reinforcing parliament's position at the apex of accountability institutions. At the same time, parliaments can also play a key role in promoting accountability, through constituency outreach, public hearings, and parliamentary commissions.
  • Publication
    Community Driven Development and Accountable Local Governance : Some Lessons from the Philippines
    (Washington, DC, 2009-10-15) World Bank
    This study evaluates the connections between community-driven development (CDD) and decentralized local governance, and the need to identify strategies for operational integration. It aims to deepen the understanding of how the institutional environment for local governance interacts with CDD project operations. It gives special emphasis on the issue of accountability, analyzing how CDD operations perform in terms of strengthening the capacity of citizens and civil society to hold local authorities and public service providers accountable, and the capacity of the local government to be held accountable. The study utilizes a two-pronged approach. First, it assesses the institutional environment for accountability in local governance. Second, it examines the operations of two major World Bank-assisted CDD projects in two municipal case study sites. Given that CDD projects both shape and are shaped by local governance contexts in which they are embedded, the study investigates how CDD operations in the Philippines are affected by and are helping reform local governance conditions. It is from the analysis of this interface between CDD operations and local governance conditions that the study aims to generate policy and operational recommendations to enhance integration between CDD and local governance approaches. The analysis of the institutional environment for accountability in local governance often found an enabling policy and legal framework in principle, but severely limiting constraints in practice.
  • Publication
    West Bank and Gaza - Improving Governance and Reducing Corruption
    (World Bank, 2011-05-18) World Bank
    In the past decade, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has worked to strengthen economic governance and combat corruption, both essential to sustained economic growth and improved delivery of public services. This report finds the PA has made significant progress in its public institutions, establishing a strong governance environment in many critical areas. But it also identifies areas where reforms are underway but incomplete or, in some areas, not yet under consideration. Major reforms have been put in place to strengthen the PA's public financial management (PFM) systems and better manage its equity holdings, two crucial components in the public finance sector. In other important areas, such as public procurement, public sector employment, regulation of the private sector, and the work of anti-corruption institutions, reforms are underway but have not been fully implemented. This analysis relies on an understanding of the relationship between good economic governance, public service delivery, and corruption. Studies show a direct correlation between weak governance systems and the quality of public service delivery. Weak governance systems, in turn, provide an opportunity for corruption. The report does not attempt to investigate specific corruption activities or quantify the economic costs of corruption in West Bank and Gaza. Its purpose is to provide a comprehensive look at the current state of economic governance in the PA. It is the first report to comprehensively assess governance reforms, ascertain citizens' and officials' actual experiences with corruption in the delivery of public services, identify institutional strengths, and highlight systematic governance weaknesses which could lead to corruption.
  • Publication
    Procurement Monitoring and Social Accountability
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009) World Bank
    The devolution of procurement responsibilities to local levels of government is increasingly occurring across South Asia. This trend is significant because increasingly localized decision-making better enables communities to hold government authorities accountable for the effectiveness of public spending, which can lead to various improved development outcomes, such as improvements in quality of service delivery; greater empowerment and understanding by end-users services supplied through public procurement processes; and improved oversight and accountability of service delivery agencies. The objective of this report is to set out an overview of the strategic approach developed by World Bank Institute (WBI) as a component of the Norwegian governance trust fund (NTF) program `procurement and service delivery: establishing effective collaboration between government and beneficiaries on monitoring procurement outcomes`. WBI received funds under the NTF to facilitate the development of context and audience-specific knowledge products by recognized practitioners and civil society organizations in South Asia as part of a broader effort to create a practical curriculum on social accountability in procurement.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Ukraine Country Environmental Analysis
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-01) World Bank
    The objective of the Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) is to assess the adequacy and performance of the policy, legal, and institutional framework for environmental management in Ukraine, in light of the decentralization process of environmental governance and wider reform objectives, and to provide recommendations to government to address the key gaps identified. Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe and has a population of 43 million, the majority of whom live in urban areas. It is a lower middle income country, with the services, industry and agriculture sectors being main contributors to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Ukraine faces a number of environmental challenges, as identified in its National Environmental Strategy 2020 (NES). Key among these are: air pollution; quality of water resources and land degradation; solid waste management; biodiversity loss; human health issues associated with environmental risk factors; in addition to climate change. The scope of Ukrainian environmental legislation is quite broad and comprehensive (more than 300 legal acts) and covers most areas of environmental protection and natural resources management. However, the environmental legislation faces a number of weaknesses:The environmental legislation is largely declaratory in nature and does not have all the essential enforcement mechanisms for the implementation of legal acts and international agreements; Many of the acts are not coordinated with each other; and Legislation undergoes limited analysis of its impact—for example, no in-depth analysis such as Regulatory Impact Analysis is conducted for proposed pieces of legislation.
  • Publication
    Thailand Monthly Economic Monitor, October 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-10-22) World Bank
    Fiscal conditions remained stable, with a modest widening of the deficit to 3.1 percent of GDP. New stimulus measures are expected to support short-term demand without breaching the public debt ceiling. Inflation stayed negative, reflecting lower energy and food prices amid subdued domestic demand. The central bank kept the policy rate unchanged, citing limited policy space. Thailand’s growth momentum has slowed further as manufacturing activity and services weakened as projected. Tourism remained subdued, largely due to fewer Chinese visitors. Goods exports also slowed as earlier front-loaded orders faded, particularly in agriculture and industrial goods. The Thai baht depreciated in early October as the US dollar appreciated and the current account turned negative.
  • Publication
    Digital Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13) Begazo, Tania; Dutz, Mark Andrew; Blimpo, Moussa
    All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.
  • Publication
    Housing Subsidies for Refugees
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-22) Tamim, Abdulrazzak; Smith, Emma; Palmer, I. Bailey; Miguel, Edward; Leone, Samuel; Rozo, Sandra V.; Stillman, Sarah
    Refugees require assistance for basic needs like housing but local host communities may feel excluded from that assistance, potentially affecting community relations. This study experimentally evaluates the effect of a housing assistance program for Syrian refugees in Jordan on both the recipients and their neighbors. The program offered full rental subsidies and landlord incentives for housing improvements, but saw only moderate uptake, in part due to landlord reluctance. The program improved short-run housing quality and lowered housing expenditures, but did not yield sustained economic benefits, partly due to redistribution of aid. The program unexpectedly led to a deterioration in child socio-emotional well-being, and also strained relations between Jordanian neighbors and refugees. In all, housing subsidies had limited measurable benefits for refugee well-being while worsening social cohesion, highlighting the possible need for alternative forms of aid.
  • Publication
    Regional Poverty and Inequality Update: Latin America and the Caribbean, October 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-10-23) World Bank
    This brief summarizes recent facts related to poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) using the latest wave of harmonized household surveys from the Socio-Economic Database for LAC (SEDLAC). This brief was produced by the Poverty Global Practice in the LAC Region of the World Bank.