Global Program on Anticorruption for Development

The World Bank Group's Anticorruption for Development Global Program (AC4D) and the International Corruption Hunters Alliance (ICHA) hosted the Partnerships for Anticorruption Global Forum on April 8-9, 2025, in Washington, D.C. This important event brought together over 400 partners and experts from government, academia, civil society, the private sector, and international development organizations, all committed to advancing the fight against corruption. Featuring a keynote address by Daron Acemoglu, MIT Professor, and 2024 Nobel Laureate, the Forum emphasized the importance of partnerships in tackling corruption's transnational dimensions. Co-hosted by Transparency International, FCDO, the Governments of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the OECD, Chandler Foundation, and the Open Government Partnership, the Forum highlighted critical topics, including Accountability, Institutions, and the Rule of Law, and Harnessing Technology for Transparency. Explore the sessions online for insightful discussions and strategies.

The World Bank's Anticorruption for Development (AC4D) hosted the first Anticorruption for Development Global Forum in Washington, D.C., on June 26-27, 2023. This event convened over 220 partners and experts from diverse sectors, including government, private enterprise, academia, civil society, and international development organizations, united in the fight against corruption. Co-hosted by organizations such as Transparency International, UNODC, U4 Anticorruption Resource Center, Chandler Foundation, USAID, FCDO, and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Forum underscored the World Bank's commitment to promoting governance and integrity as key drivers of development.

Explore the sessions by accessing the agenda tabs for replays.

The Anticorruption for Development Program's BOT Working Group, Open Ownership and the Centre for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex are organizing a Research Symposium that aims to support evidence-based policymaking, implementation, and advocacy of beneficial ownership transparency reforms. The Symposium will take place on February 26 and 27, 2026 in Brighton (United Kingdom). It is designed as a generative dialogue and connection space among researchers and academic experts in the field, as well as hosting a diversity of individuals from academia, multilateral agencies, and civil society.

Find out more details and register to join the Symposium online

The main purpose of the event is to share and promote novel empirical research on topics related to policy design, effective implementation, use, and impact of beneficial ownership transparency (BOT) reforms for legal vehicles and assets. It also seeks to elevate the topic of BOT on academic research agendas internationally, and to deepen our collective understanding of the field. This includes considering how the disclosure and use of beneficial ownership information of legal vehicles is contributing to fairer and more effective taxation, robust public procurement, and broader public policy and economic outcomes.

Call for Submissions

Submissions to the symposium were welcomed from researchers, advocates, and practitioners on themes related to:

1. BOT policy design and implementation;
2. impact measurement and data use;
3. BOT of assets and other horizon issues.

Visit the Open Ownership website for more information on the Research Symposium’s purpose, attendance details, and the full call for submissions (now closed; it was open through November 2025).

The AC4D team was present at the 11th Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention Against Corruption, held December 15 to 19 in Doha, Qatar. The team joined these panel sessions:

December 19: Side Event on Mitigating Corruption Risk in Public Procurement. 

Building on the Second Global Conference on Harnessing Data to Improve Corruption Measurement, this event unveiled innovative tools to measure corruption and anticorruption effort on public procurement. With global experts from the Open Contracting Partnership, UNDP and Nazaha, it highlighted new data, global and regional trends, and how evidence-based reforms can be promoted. See flyer for details (PDF).

December 19: Panel discussion on Harnessing Data for Inclusive and Effective Anticorruption Efforts

This session explored how data from corruption and discrimination surveys can be combined to design more inclusive, evidence-based anti-corruption systems. It highlighted national and global experiences, from national integrity indicators to emerging governance and equality statistics frameworks. See flyer for details (PDF). 

December 18: Panel discussion on Gender Norms in Corruption Dynamics and Anti-corruption Strategies

This panel discussion explored the relationship between gender and corruption, followed by a discussion exploring how social and gender norms shape vulnerability, corrupt behavior, and resistance as well as how they inform feminized corruption. The panel highlighted good practices in mainstreaming and transformative approaches. Find event flyer.