5 December 2024 – 

The 13th Regional Meeting for Sub-Saharan Africa in late November 2024 served as a valuable opportunity to reflect on the year’s collective achievements, challenges, and lessons while setting the stage for forward-looking strategies and priorities for 2025.

International Anti-Corruption Day 2024 (IACD2024)

During the meeting, participants shared detailed plans and activities for International Anti-Corruption Day (9 December 2024), themed “Uniting with Youth Against Corruption: Shaping Tomorrow’s Integrity.” Members highlighted a range of initiatives, including youth-focused campaigns, advocacy for stronger whistleblower protection laws, engaging traditional, customary, and religious leaders in anti-corruption efforts, and conducting public awareness activities such as TV and radio shows, street interviews, and visibility campaigns. Additionally, research reports, panel discussions, and conferences involving governments, civil society organizations (CSOs), journalists, and community groups were planned. These activities spanned several countries, including Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, Uganda, DRC, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Ethiopia. Some activities include:

• On 3 December 2024, at 09:00 EDT/ 14:00 UTC, Open Ownership (OO), in collaboration with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), will be launching three new resources on legislating effectively for beneficial ownership transparency (BOT). More details about the event including registration for virtual participation can be accessed here. French and Spanish interpretations will be provided.
• On 5 December 2024, the Center for Fiscal Transparency & Public Integrity (CeFTPI) will be hosting a virtual workshop on the “Role of Youth in Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Enhance Anti-corruption.” More details on registration and participation can be found here. On 10 December, in collaboration with other partners, they will also be convening a high-level policy conversation aimed at x-raying the state of anti-corruption policy and practice in Nigeria. To attend, please register here.
• As Ghana prepares for the general elections on 7 December 2024 to elect the president and members of Parliament, the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) and Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII)  —  the local chapter of Transparency International (TI) —  are conducting various advocacy initiatives aimed at strengthening democracy through electoral integrity and encouraging meaningful youth participation in elections. Read more about their work on Money, Power, and Corruption: How Campaign Financing Undermines Electoral Integrity in Africa.
• On 9 December 2024, the Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCog) will be launching a report analysing corruption in Kenya; highlighting its economic cost, systemic impunity, and the erosion of accountability structures, while examining the current administration’s attitudes, policies, and actions on corruption before and during its tenure. Contact them here for more information about the report.
• The Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD), just launched their 2025 National Budget Analysis. They are also running a social media campaign, including the #Youth4Integrity podcast, on the role of young people in fighting against corruption. 

Regional Highlights for 2024

The UNCAC Coalition, together with its regional network for Sub-Saharan Africa, marked several milestones in 2024. Here are a few:

Regional meetings 

• In 2024, the first Regional Meeting was on enhancing transparency and civil society engagement in the UNCAC review process– CSOs in Sub-Saharan Africa face significant barriers to meaningful participation in the UNCAC review process, despite encouragement for States Parties to include non-governmental stakeholders. Many governments either exclude CSOs or fail to ensure effective engagement. To address these issues, the UNCAC Coalition has developed tools to promote transparency and participation in the review process and members of the Sub-Saharan Africa region passed a resolution to conduct an annual engagement on how to effectively utilise the UNCAC Coalition review tools to enhance transparency and foster meaningful participation in the UNCAC review process in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• The 12th Regional Meeting for Sub-Saharan Africa sought to enhance the understanding and capacity of participants to advocate for and implement effective strategies that promote electoral integrity and transparent campaign financing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Read more about our discussions on Money, Power, and Corruption: How Campaign Financing Undermines Electoral Integrity in Africa.

We launched our first in-country advocacy program in Zambia!

In August 2024, the UNCAC Coalition successfully launched its first in-country advocacy program in Zambia. This initiative coincided with Zambia’s UNCAC review country visit, held from August 13 to 15, 2024, providing us with a strategic opportunity to advocate for transparency and civil society participation in the review process. In partnership with Transparency International Zambia, the Coalition organized a series of impactful activities, including a roundtable on whistleblower protection with national stakeholders, training sessions for civil society organizations on the UNCAC review process and Access to Information (ATI), and engagement meetings with national and international stakeholders on strengthening anti-corruption efforts in Zambia. Building on this success, the Coalition plans to expand the program to other countries in 2025. Learn more about our Zambia visit here.

Meaningful support and collaboration with our partners

Throughout 2024, the UNCAC Coalition actively supported advocacy and collaboration efforts to enhance transparency and civil society participation in the UNCAC review process. 

• This included providing assistance to CSOs in developing parallel reports on UNCAC implementation and conducting follow-up activities. Notably, the Coalition supported Organisation Tchadienne Anti-Corruption (OTAC)’s parallel report on UNCAC implementation in Chad, and facilitated the translations of parallel reports from Burundi and Guinea into French in 2024. Currently, we are supporting Nigeria’s ongoing parallel report, spearheaded by the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity – which is soon to be published – as well as advocacy activities on key recommendations from parallel reports in Zambia through Transparency International Zambia and Uganda through Uganda’s Anti-Corruption Coalition. Additionally, outreach efforts encouraged CSOs in Cameroon, Kenya, and Rwanda to apply for support in developing parallel reports for their respective countries. The call is still open!
• In May 2024, we were part of the historic UN Civil Society Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya – the first of its kind in Africa. The conference brought together a diverse range of stakeholders, including governments, civil society, academia, youth changemakers, and international media, to shape discussions and gather preliminary data ahead of the Summit of the Future in September 2024. The event provided a platform for thematic dialogues on issues closely linked to fast-tracking the implementation of the UNCAC such as enhancing transparency, accountability and anti-corruption, human rights, open governance, gender rights, economic development, and sustainable development. The final report and outcome package from the conference can be accessed here. 
• We were also actively engaged in the East Africa Anti-Corruption Platform Conference held in Nairobi from May 20 to 23, 2024, with the objective of reviving the regional platform to fast-track UNCAC implementation in Eastern Africa. The conference was convened under the the framework of the regional platform approach endorsed by the Conference of the States Parties (CoSP) Resolution 9/4, which aimed to address pressing challenges and identify strategic priorities for collective action in the region. Participants from eight countries identified four key priorities: financial investigations, public procurement, whistleblower protection, and international cooperation. A significant milestone was the adoption of the first-ever CSO position statement to be included in an official UNODC Conference Outcome Statement, emphasizing the vital role of civil society in anti-corruption efforts. More details are forthcoming on this website.
• We showcased a good practice example of civil society’s monitoring of UNCAC commitments in Nigeria at our event at the International Anti-Corruption Conference in June; and of government actions to promote civil society participation and transparency in the UNCAC review process in Mauritius at a side event on the sidelines of the Implementation Review Group meetings in August. Mauritius is largely compliant with the UNCAC Coalition’s Transparency Pledge commitment.
• The Coalition also received strong regional backing during its IRM Campaign, which aimed to strengthen the next phase of the UNCAC Implementation Review Mechanism (IRM) by promoting greater transparency, inclusivity, efficiency, and effectiveness, while ensuring more actionable outcome documents. This led to several strong statements by countries from Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Our members also benefited from multiple training opportunities facilitated by the UNCAC Coalition hub in partnership with various organizations. These included sessions on asset recovery by Redress, cultural racketeering and corruption by the Antiquities Coalition, open data for preventing and combating corruption by the Open Data Charter (ODC) and the Open Government Partnership (OGP), and how to use the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review to enhance implementation of UNCAC parallel report recommendations by UPR Info.These initiatives collectively bolstered capacity and engagement across the region.

Plans for 2025

Looking ahead to 2025, participants identified several regional priorities, including enhancing access to information, promoting business integrity, improving campaign financing mechanisms, advancing environmental transparency (particularly in carbon markets), and strengthening whistleblower protections. The impact of emerging technologies on anti-corruption efforts was also a key emerging issue. 

The session provided an overview of the 11th Session of the Conference of the States Parties (CoSP11), anticipated thematic issues, and resources available to CSOs for effective participation. Participants were also informed of upcoming training and capacity-building opportunities, and engagement with the thematic working groups designed to empower members in advancing anti-corruption advocacy in the coming year. 

Evidently, 2024 marked a year of meaningful progress and collaboration in the fight against corruption across the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Building on this momentum and the lessons learned, we look forward to advancing these efforts in 2025. More details to be shared in due course!