News & Events Event Reports

How Local and Regional Governments Are Building Trust and Preventing Corruption

Publication Date:

19/12/2023

Content Type:

Event Reports

Share:

Tags:

Anti-Corruption MeasuresCarter CenterCity-Led Actioncorruption

— 1 minutes reading time

On 12 December 2023, the Strong Cities Network co-hosted a panel with the Carter Center’s Inform Women Transform Lives Campaign on the margins of the Tenth Session of the Conference of State Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in Atlanta. The event focused on the important role that mayors and cities play in preventing corruption and building trust, a role that is too often overlooked in national and multilateral conversations about how to strengthen anti-corruption efforts.

The event opened with framing remarks from the co-hosts and Norman Eisen, former Special Counsel to President Obama for Ethics and Government Reform and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Melissa Brown, Executive Director of USAID’s Anti-Corruption Center.  Eric Rosand and Laura Neuman, Senior Advisor at the Carter Center, facilitated a conversation among mayors and other local leaders from Chicago, Illinois (United States), Nairobi (Kenya), Palmira, (Colombia) and Skopje (North Macedonia) on city-led efforts to prevent corruption and build trust.

Key takeaways from the event included:

• Cities are at the vanguard of corruption prevention – they should be at the global anti-corruption table: Cities are often better positioned than national governments to identify corruption in their institutions and make necessary changes to restore integrity; city-led action and leadership should be at the forefront of informing national and global policies.
• Cities are reducing corruption risk through a range of initiatives: City-led trust-building and transparency initiatives, including ones focused on modernising government systems and involving historically marginalised and/or underrepresented communities in decision-making, are reducing the risk of corruption at a local level and contributing to the localisation of global anti-corruption measures.
• Anti-corruption efforts contribute to hate and extremism prevention: Corruption has detrimental effects on trust between residents and their local government. City-led anti-corruption measures facilitate higher levels of trust in local governments from residents which can serve as a protective factor against hate and/or extremist narratives. Addressing corruption is therefore one of the many ways local governments can help stem the rising tide of hate and extremism.

News & EVENTS

Stay up to date with recent news, articles and event reports

News & Events

Looking for something in our Resource Hub?

Or explore all resources

Nominated for Best Animated Short at Cannes

Watch now

Join US

Looking to become a Strong City?

Get in touch