Building a culture of integrity in local government

Background
Decentralisation process assumes that power, responsibilities and budgets devolved from the
central government down to the local government. From social welfare, health and
education to various permissions and licenses local governments are playing a greater role
designing policies and delivering key public services.
Although, decentralisation processes can help strengthen accountability of the government
by bringing it closer to the people, decentralisation may also be the reason of corruption risks
as corruption is a problem at all levels of government. Salaries of local level public officials
usually are lower than the national level and institutions designed to hold local public
officials to account are not always adequate. And local officials may have interests that can
influence decision-making.
It is to be said that citizens and the public sector interact most directly at the local level so
when corruption occurs locally, the impact on the lives of citizens can be the most damaging.
When accountability and integrity are put at the heart of local government, the risks of
corruption are reduced. Citizens can participate in and influence policy design and
implementation, and hold local officials to account for their decisions.

Civil society organizations (TI

Chapters) can strengthen
local government integrity in
two
broad ways: by assessing,
analysing and
recommending rules and
practices within local
governments that can reduce
corruption; and secondly, by
ensuring that the different
public
actors perform with
integrity through the
promotion of transparency,
and the effective
monitoring and participation
in the design of policy and
implementation of public
services
(social accountability
mechanisms). From these
two main channels it is
possible to find
various promising activities
which can be utilized by TI
chapters to enhance local
government integrity – they
include: comparative
assessment of local
government integrity,
recommendations to
strengthen integrity of local
administrations, establishing
observatories to monitor
local councils, monitoring of
expenditures and service
delivery,
community watchdog groups,
and integrity pledges.
Civil society organizations (TI
Chapters) can strengthen
local government integrity in
two
broad ways: by assessing,
analysing and
recommending rules and
practices within local
governments that can reduce
corruption; and secondly, by
ensuring that the different
public
actors perform with
integrity through the
promotion of transparency,
and the effective
monitoring and participation
in the design of policy and
implementation of public
services
(social accountability
mechanisms). From these
two main channels it is
possible to find
various promising activities
which can be utilized by TI
chapters to enhance local
government integrity – they
include: comparative
assessment of local
government integrity,
recommendations to
strengthen integrity of local
administrations, establishing
observatories to monitor
local councils, monitoring of
expenditures and service
delivery,
community watchdog groups,
and integrity pledges.
Civil society organizations (TI
Chapters) can strengthen
local government integrity in
two
broad ways: by assessing,
analysing and
recommending rules and
practices within local
governments that can reduce
corruption; and secondly, by
ensuring that the different
public
actors perform with
integrity through the
promotion of transparency,
and the effective
monitoring and participation
in the design of policy and
implementation of public
services
(social accountability
mechanisms). From these
two main channels it is
possible to find
various promising activities
which can be utilized by TI
chapters to enhance local
government integrity – they
include: comparative
assessment of local
government integrity,
recommendations to
strengthen integrity of local
administrations, establishing
observatories to monitor
local councils, monitoring of
expenditures and service
delivery,
community watchdog groups,
and integrity pledges.
Civil society organizations can strengthen local government integrity in two broad ways: by
assessing, analysing and recommending rules and practices within local governments that
can reduce corruption; and secondly, by ensuring that the different public actors perform
with integrity through the promotion of transparency, and the effective monitoring and
participation in the design of policy and implementation of public services (social
accountability mechanisms)1.

1
(TI Chapters)
In Armenia, the concept of integrity was introduced within the framework of anti-
corruption policy by enshrining in the Law on “Public Service” adopted in 2018.

Objectives

The main objective is to strengthen the capacity of those working in the local government sector to
effectively manage integrity risks and increase organisational resilience to integrity violations, and thus
enable local governments to deliver robust and efficient public services.

functioning Local Integrity System with strong institutions and oversight systems, which ensure high
levels of transparency, accountability and integrity in local governance, is the most effective way to
prevent and sanction corruption at the local level.

Public officials with integrity are ever mindful of the fact that the money they have to spend on their
communities comes directly from their citizens through tax dollars and that the government exists to
serve them. Having access to these funds also means that citizens have the right to know how their local
officials intend to allocate those funds. Good governance entails keeping the best interests of the
citizens at the forefront of decision-making for the community. In a sense, the citizens act as overseers
for their public officials and government staff.

The more a local government can provide in the way of transparency, the more it increases trust,
honesty, and integrity in the government leaders.

Development of a toolkit on drafting anticorruption/integrity plans for local governments;

Training of Trainers on the anticorruption/integrity plans, who will then be able to replicate the trainings
in the municipalities and realization of forty one-day trainings for 20 municipalities on developing,
establishing and implementing anti-corruption/integrity plans;

Awareness-raising activities and Institutionalization of methodology on drafting anticorruption/integrity

plans by the Associations;

Developed toolkit on establishing anticorruption plans;

Increased knowledge and built capacities of local leaders on the mechanisms and forms to decrease
vulnerabilities to corruption and corruptive practices, thereby increasing accountability and
transparency in the local governance;

Developed anticorruption/integrity plans in 20 trained municipalities.

The methodology

1. Assessment

2. Recommendations
3. Technical assistance