Governance & Institutions Umbrella Program (G&I)

1. The Global Program on Anticorruption for Development

G&I contributes to the Global Program on Anticorruption for Development, which supports countries in responding to evolving corruption challenges and incorporating new technological approaches for corruption prevention, detection, and mitigation. It furthers the World Bank’s new, integrative approach to combating corruption by strengthening institutional capacity to tackle both domestic and transnational corruption, with a focus on public procurement, accountability institutions, beneficial ownership transparency (BOT), and illicit financial flows (IFF).

The program’s work includes activities for enhancing the evidence base and knowledge sharing for reforms and providing technical assistance to countries. Among the activities, G&I has supported the following. Visit the global program's website

Beneficial Ownership Transparency Reforms in Malawi A G&I grant of $75,000 allowed the collaboration between the World Bank, the Government of Malawi, anticorruption civil society leaders, and Open Ownership to begin. A diagnostic assessment outlined steps the government could take to implement beneficial ownership transparency reform. It included an evaluation of the existing systems for beneficial ownership data collection, a further review of the existing legislative framework, and a technical capacity building needs assessment. These steps are now being implemented through the USD 80 million Malawi Fiscal Governance Program for Results over the next five years. Read the results brief about this work

Partnerships for Anticorruption Global Forum 2025 The 2025 Partnerships for Anticorruption Global Forum focused on the importance of partnerships in collectively advancing the fight against corruption. Sessions were streamed online and included panel discussions on critical topics such as Accountability, Institutions and the Rule of Law, Beneficial Ownership Transparency and Fighting Illicit Financial Flows, Procurement Systems and Private Partnerships, and Data, Technology, and Climate Change.

2. Costs of Corruption

The costs of corruption extend beyond just the costs of bribes. Corruption erodes trust in public institutions, undermines environmental protection, and exacerbates poverty and inequality. Watch this video produced by G&I and learn the main reasons for reform failure and what we can do about corruption.

Video: What are the costs of corruption?

3. Moldova: Efforts to Combat Corruption, Enhance Integrity and Recover Stolen Assets

Over several years, G&I in partnership with the UK’s FCDO has been supporting efforts to strengthen the capacity of Moldova's Ministry of Justice and relevant law enforcement agencies to combat corruption, enhance personnel integrity, and advance the recovery of stolen assets. 

• Analytical work has informed legislative changes including the adoption of amendments to the legislative framework on assets and interest declarations in March 2025. It included a new definition of beneficial ownership, replacing manual checks with automated validation, introducing an asset declaration automated risk assessment, and publishing data in a machine-readable format.
• Steps have been taken to deepen the dialogue around addressing economic crimes. A rapid needs assessment of the current institutional framework to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate economic crimes was done. Advances have been made in drafting legislation on seizure and confiscation of proceeds of corruption to address gaps in asset recovery and strengthen the role of the public prosecutor in enforcing criminal confiscation orders.
  
• The project conducted a digital justice assessment in 2023, then developed a draft vision and a set of recommendations to support implementation of digital development in the sector. The team also provided support to the Ministry of Justice to develop the digital justice internal policy document and implementation plan.
  
• The team has provided advice to many Moldovan agencies on good practices in financial investigations, formal and informal international cooperation, best confiscation approaches to ensure eventual asset recovery and return in complex corruption and money laundering cases with an international dimension.

CURRENT WORK Significant progress has been made in strengthening legal frameworks and institutional mandates in Moldova—particularly in areas linked to integrity, anti–money laundering, and asset recovery—yet the translation of reforms into sustained performance lags relative to the scale and complexity of the reform agenda. Constraints in coordination, capacity, and end-to-end case progression continue to limit outcomes. To address this, G&I grants currently support the following work towards two main outcomes: 1.       Effective anticorruption reform implementation coordination of anticorruption and asset recovery reforms across the enforcement chain: Sustaining policy dialogue and reform monitoring together with key stakeholders. Refining the institutional architecture (mandates) for investigating and prosecuting economic crime. Facilitating implementation workshops for investigators, prosecutors and judicial actors on confiscation and economic crime enforcement. Strengthening domestic asset recovery effectiveness by identifying bottlenecks. 2. Strengthened institutional accountability and specialization within anticorruption and prosecutorial bodies: Conducting trainings to increase the capacity of investigators and prosecutors to conduct financial investigations, enforce illicit enrichment offences and conduct investigations involving virtual currencies. Providing continued mentoring to Moldovan authorities to advance international cooperation and strengthen recovery of assets held in foreign jurisdictions. Building capacity of judges on adjudication of corruption, money laundering, and economic crime cases. Strengthening data collection, case tracking, and performance monitoring in asset recovery data systems. Enhancing asset declaration forms and upgrades to the e-integrity system in partnership with IDLO. Strengthening prosecutorial evaluation and discipline procedures by engaging with the Superior Council of Prosecutors. Building a specialized talent pipeline of skilled practitioners in anticorruption and economic crime enforcement.

4. Kenya: Advancing Beneficial Ownership Transparency and Enhancing Procurement Integrity 

The G&I-supported activity enhanced the use, sharing, access, management, and cleaning of beneficial ownership information data. For the public procurement system, an analysis and recommendations regarding beneficial ownership provisions has paved the way for enhanced transparency. The activity supported the the Business Registration Service in operationalizing its beneficial ownership database and identifying key priority reform areas, including the coverage of and systems improvements needed for data collection, storage, and publication. These follow-up reforms will be financed through the second phase of the US$250 million World Bank Program-for-Results to Strengthen Governance for Enabling Service Delivery and Public Investment in Kenya.

The activity also supported the integration of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority and the Business Registration Service's systems to facilitate access to beneficial ownership transparency information of the companies participating in procurement contracts. Capacity-building support was provided to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority on how to use beneficial ownership information in procurement.

Find out more about the Program for Results in Kenya

5. Nigeria: Enhancing Transparent, Effective and Accountable Public Institutions

In Nigeria, the G&I-supported activity has been working to sustain and strengthen recent gains in fiscal transparency at the federal and state levels and to support channels to use this transparency to strengthen fiscal accountability.

At the federal level, the activity has supported technical assistance to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to enhance the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) and its integration with the Debt Management Office, Federal Inland Revenue Service and Central Bank of Nigeria for timely digital monitoring and publication of key fiscal data, as well as to automate billing and revenue collection. More recently, the activity focused on state owned enterprises, supported the development of an asset registry and corporate governance framework, as well as timely publication of audited financial statements and an automated revenue assurance tool, leveraging the World Bank's Fiscal Governance and Institutions Project.

At the state level, the activity has supported an in-depth learning review of the recent fiscal transparency reforms under the USD 1.5 billion States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Program to inform ways to deepen budget, procurement, and debt transparency. The findings have informed design and implementation of three Programs for Results lending projects focused on primary health and basic education service delivery at the subnational level: Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity; Labor Management Procedures Nigeria: Primary Healthcare Provision Strengthening Program; and HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All.

Read more in this blog

Explore other G&I-funded activities in:

Public Administration and Institutional Reform

GovTech and Public Sector Modernization

Justice and Rule of Law

Multistakeholder Engagement and Coalitions for Reforms

Go back to G&I Activities page