The Sustainable Development Goals recognise the importance of effective governance, as a cross-cutting enabler of development and the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Governance is multifaceted and includes efforts to design and implement policies, effectively allocate resources, and foster collaboration among multiple actors.
Advances in accountability and anti-corruption research provide new ways to ensure that major obstacles hindering UHC can be overcome. The recent definition of corruption – ‘The abuse or complicity in abuse, of public or private position, power or authority to benefit oneself, a group, an organization or others close to oneself in a way which diverts institutions from their core aims’ – is shifting the attention from individuals to institutions, recognizing that unaccountable and corrupt practices are enabled by ineffective systems and political and professional networks.
Evidence on anti-corruption solutions, such as strategies that have achieved clear and sustained results, is scarce. During the Covid-19 pandemic, poor accountability in contracting, safeguarding resources, and politically influenced decisions have constrained responses worldwide. We are seeing a clear shift in the global debate with greater interest from different global health representatives.
The TWG AAA-SDG focuses on understanding the drivers of poor accountability and corruption within health systems and the systemic structures that allow them to thrive.
Objectives
- Generate knowledge on the manifestations of poor accountability and corruption across different settings. Leads: Dr. Eleanor Hutchinson and Pamela Ogbozor
- Promote co-production of novel accountability and anti-corruption strategies and solutions that can work in different contexts. Leads: Dr. Ankita Meghani and Prince Agwu
- Support HSG member capacity development. Leads: Ms. Sarah Steingrüber and Charles Orjiakor
- Mobilising HSG Members and Constituents for policy engagement and AAA advocacy. Lead: Jonathan Cushing
Activities:
- A webinar and podcast series highlighting the latest evidence, best practices, and interviews with key experts in the field
- A global crowdsourcing call to identify accountability and anti-corruption solutions and stories from the field.
- Regional policymaker dialogues in Africa and Asia to discuss novel solutions
- Member capacity-building opportunities such as peer-mentoring for publications and courses on anti-corruption.
- Synthesis of existing evidence, contributing to building a global evidence repository, and developing a research agenda.
Members:
We hope to build a thriving and diverse membership community inclusive of research organisations, non-governmental organizations, UN agencies, including the WHO, governments, private sector, and civil society. We will foster greater linkages between frontline actors and policymakers, as well focus on capacitating women and early career researchers from LMICs.