As part of FCDO’s Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme, SOAS and Global Integrity researchers will discuss why and how gender matters to our corruption research, both in terms of agency (how we focus on empowering actors) and impact (taking gender into consideration for public service delivery).

Our research teams will present challenges and opportunities they have faced in incorporating gender in research design, and explore why many researchers still stray away from working with “gender” when designing research. Does this difficulty stem from the fact that sectoral specificities with complex power imbalances make it difficult to focus on gendered dynamics and solutions? Or is that, despite the discussions and guidelines on gender mainstreaming, we still don’t have a shared understanding of the value of gender? Most important, are there things we are not studying that we might if we had a gender angle.

Event time: March 23, 2021 10:00 EST

Register for the event here: https://gint.info/GenderedDesigns

There is a growing recognition that the enablers of large-scale (‘grand’) corruption lie in transnational financial networks. Literature suggests that a large proportion of illicit flows from Nigeria are invested in the UK. But illicit flows are, by their nature, illegal and deliberately hidden from view, making them a particularly challenging object of research. By presenting the findings of three Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence (GI-ACE) projects that analyse UK-Nigeria business connections from different perspectives, this discussion will examine and problematise the international financial architecture that allows for proceeds of grand corruption looted from Nigeria to be laundered in the UK. It will furthermore discuss the role of Western professional service providers in facilitating kleptocratic practices.

Event time: March 24, 2021 15:00 GMT

Register for the event here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJArcu2hpjgsEt0ATyUc8pqtZrsb2JW-w6yK

Crossing borders is a strategy used by many vulnerable populations in an age of inequality and climate crisis. Borders are governed by complex rules and bureaucracy that present ample opportunities for corruption, producing hardship and rights abuses that often have significant gender dimensions. Applying a gender lens, this conversation will draw on new research that looks at how COVID restrictions at borders are impacting small scale cross border traders in East Africa. What happened to bribery and harassment with Covid restrictions and how are these dynamics gendered? What can Covid impacts tell us about how corruption operates more generally at these borders and about strategies traders use to keep their businesses alive when facing shocks? As economic activities resume Post-Covid, what have we learned to improve trader conditions, build social resilience and reduce extraction from vulnerable populations at these borders?

Event time: March 25, 2021 8:00 EST

Register for the event here: http://gint.info/KloppOECD

A Disruptive Fridays discussion with GI-ACE researcher Jacqueline Klopp, the New Statesman’s International Correspondent Ido Vock and UK-based investigative journalist Franz Wild hosted by the Disruption Network Lab.

Event time: March 26, 2021 12 EST

Register for the event here: http://gint.info/KloppDisruption

The Cities of Integrity project at GI-ACE has developed a series of animated videos illustrating the specific issues of corruption in urban planning and its consequences for cities and their publics. These animations have been used in their workshops, social media, and direct engagement with particular groups such as early career planners. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the animators, the research team, and a representative from the Zambian Institute of Planners. We will discuss the advantages and limitations of using animated film in workshops and communications around integrity-strengthening as a response to corruption in planning. The Cities of Integrity team will reflect on their experience working with the production house in translating their research into accessible language and visuals and hone in on the question of impact together with the Zambian Institute of Planners as a key stakeholder.