In a blog for DCAF, one of our advisors draws on the programme's experience and outlines 10 tips for assisting defence and security forces to address and tackle corruption.

Transparency International’s Defence and Security Programme (TI-DSP) has been working for the past seven years with defence and security forces, assisting them proactively to address and tackle corruption.  Our experience is that nations, militaries and security forces are remarkably open to discussing corruption once you have made it clear that your objectives are to improve the capability of the organisation, not to damage it, and to focus on constructive measures not punishment. Here ten top tips from our experience:

1. Make it clear in all your conversations that whilst corruption is a damaging, dangerous phenomenon, your presence and purpose is about developing constructive solutions in this particular context.
2. Tell people that corruption is a systemic issue, not a personal one. It thus has to be tackled by changing behaviours, processes and controls across the whole system.  Doing this in a preventive way is more powerful and long lasting than through prosecutions.
3. Find a few senior influential people who will give the message that tackling corruption is a central part of the reform process and that they fully support it.  In particular, you want them to say or make it clear that it is permissible for their staff to talk openly about the topic.  Taking ownership of the anti-corruption effort is crucial.
4. Take it slowly, and talk to a lot to people without any action plan.  It takes time for people to realise that it is a systemic problem, that it is not about punishment, and that it is only rarely about procurement fraud.
5. Allow people to have their own views of what corruption is.  It is a multi-component word, and everyone will give different weights to different elements, including some that will not be on your radar.

Read the full blog 'Ten tips: how to think about corruption when working with local and national actors.'

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