Reducing Corruption in Colombia

Casals & Associates successfully completed a three-year, $8 million anticorruption project in Colombia in December 2006. The project increased transparency, efficiency, and public management within Colombia´s government institutions at the national, departmental, and municipal levels as well as helped more fully engage citizens as partners in overseeing the performance of their government.

Program activities included:

• Public awareness initiatives to improve citizens’ knowledge about their right to demand government transparency
• Technical assistance and training to strengthen the internal controls, audit, fiscal planning, and management processes of the national, regional, and municipal governments
• A small grants program for citizens groups and local nongovernmental organizations engaged in anti-corruption and government reform efforts

The contract, which began in 2004, expanded on an earlier five-year, $6 million, USAID-funded anti-corruption project Casals & Associates carried out in Colombia.