Dexis is helping reduce opportunities for corruption and reinforce public demand for improved governance and accountability in Armenia.
Context
The Armenia Integrity Project was designed to promote and assist the government of Armenia in bringing forward its anti-corruption agenda. The purpose is to reduce opportunities for corruption and reinforce public demand for improved governance and accountability in Armenia.
Approach
Dexis works to strengthen corruption prevention institutions and integrity systems, support the implementation of specific legal-regulatory measures for corruption prevention, and facilitate a collective action approach to hold local entities engaged in corruption prevention mutually accountable. The project strategically focuses on strengthening the capacity of Armenian government and nongovernmental actors and facilitating processes to implement a whole-of society strategy to counter corruption.
Achievements
- Armenia Integrity Project supported the development of Armenian Government’s Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan for 2023-2026. The AC Strategy development process was participatory, with the involvement of the representatives from the Government and civil society. This collaboration led to transparent dialogue, led by the Prime Minister, resulting in government-approved AC Strategy and its Action Plan. The approved AC Strategy signifies an important step towards setting the vision and strategic foundation for preventing and combating corruption, with clear benchmarks enabling stakeholders to assess effectiveness of AC measures/activities and to identify areas for improvement, as well as actionable steps toward the end-results.
- Armenia Integrity Project supported the development of Asset Declaration System for Public Officials, in close cooperation with the Corruption Prevention Commission (CPC). The new system was operationalized and introduced on February 1, 2023. The development of asset declaration platform marks a significant step forward in strengthening accountability and enhancing the CPC’s functionalities, which led to addressing the challenges of the old asset declaration system, such as automated data transfer from state databases (data from State Revenue Committee, Cadaster Committee, Police etc.), as well as simplified procedure of asset and cost declaration.
- AIP supported the Ministry of Justice’s to organize a whistleblowing campaign, which was focused on collective action and stakeholder engagement for the long-term commitment. This campaign aimed to enhance trust in the Unified Electronic Platform for Whistleblowing and facilitate public oversight to promote integrity and fight corruption. To further support these efforts, AIP announced a call for applications to engage more CSOs in changing public perceptions about whistleblowing and complaints mechanisms, encouraging positive images of whistleblowers. This collaborative partnership paves the way for sustainable efforts and joint CSO-State commitment towards improving the integrity system and raising public awareness.
- AIP supported the development and adoption of a Code of Conduct for State Office Holders for introducing and continuously developing a culture of integrity in public service. This code of conduct aims to 1) ensure the good and responsible behavior of persons holding public positions, 2) strengthen public trust in the public service, 3) maintain vigilance against corruption, and 4) minimize tolerance towards corruption.
- AIP project established strong partnerships with civil society organizations (CSOs) to prevent and combat corruption in Armenia. Notable achievements include: Trained 12 journalists on integrity issues, who actively contributed to the production of 12 TV programs reaching millions of views and nationwide coverage; Achieved over 1.2 million outreaches on social media, by engaging active users with integrity-related, user-attractive content such as cartoons and comics; Published 15 investigative articles scrutinizing high officials’ asset declarations, resulting in 13 investigations by the CPC. AIP engaged over 400 students in a debate competition on corruption topics through a project facilitated by a youth-led organization and strengthening transparency and accountability by assessing the integrity system of the Yerevan Municipality. These CSO-led efforts demonstrated notable progress towards fostering a culture of zero tolerance towards corruption, by building a cadre of journalists equipped to report on integrity-related topics effectively, by empowering young integrity activists to serve as local integrity watchdogs and by facilitating active public discourse on integrity-related issues through publications in traditional and social media.
Photo by Antoine Merlet / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
