19 APRIL 2007
IDB, Norway Launch $4.9 Million Transparency Fund

The Inter-American Development Bank has received $4.9 million from the government of Norway to conduct projects concerning transparency and anticorruption efforts.

According to a Feb. 26 memorandum of understanding, the IDB will establish a new trust fund, the Anticorruption Activities Fund, "to strengthen IDB member countries' institutional capacity in order to improve overall governance as a means to prevent and reduce corruption."

The resources of the three-year effort will be used "to finance non-reimbursable technical cooperation projects, strategically focused on operations striving for more transparent societies, as the overarching goal, through the expansion of research and awareness, the strengthening of local capacity, and the facilitation of inter-institutional collaboration" in three areas: access to information, participatory mechanisms and monitoring mechanisms.

The identification, preparation, appraisal and supervision of the projects and activities financed through the fund, as well as the selection, recruitment and supervision of consultants, including individuals, consulting firms, semi-public and public institutions, nongovernmental organizations, universities and research institutes hired for the purposes of providing technical assistance, will be carried out in accordance with the policies and procedures of the IDB.

Expected impact of the Fund

According to the memorandum, the activities undertaken with the Fund's support will follow a comprehensive methodological approach that will cover (i) diagnostics; (ii) activity proposal; (iii) design of performance and monitoring indicators; and (iv) evaluation of the project accomplishments and its replicability in the region. The funded activities "will provide the Bank with updated information on transparency levels in the region as well as with methodological tools to monitor changes and implementation of reforms."

In addition, it is hoped that the activities undertaken "will offer the IDB concrete examples of best practices to build upon," provide entry points to further institutional change, and be "a learning process from which innovative approaches can be developed."

The effort was announced March 19.

By Toby McIntosh

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