Overview

About the Basel Institute on Governance

The Basel Institute on Governance is an independent non-profit organisation working across sectors to counter corruption and related financial crimes and to improve the quality of governance. Registered as a Swiss foundation with headquarters in Basel, the Institute works globally and maintains field operations around the world. The Basel Institute is an Associated Institute of the University of Basel.

Project: Empowering Malawi’s government agencies to control wildlife- related corruption by strengthening both prevention and enforcement approaches

Numerous government agencies tasked with natural resource/wildlife management suffer from the effects of corruption. This severely undermines their effectiveness and, in many instances, may serve as an important enabler of wildlife trafficking. Anti-corruption efforts around the world have highlighted the importance of corruption risk assessment and risk mitigation strategies to prevent and detect corruption risks within public institutions. The value of such mechanisms for preventing corruption in natural resource management has been highlighted in various reports.

The project addresses corruption in the wildlife and forestry sector in Malawi from a prevention and enforcement perspective. To prevent corruption from occurring, the project works with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to strengthen the internal risk management systems of the Departments of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW), Forestry and the Malawi Police Service. Where corruption has already taken place, the project will support the ACB to drive forward investigations and prosecutions related to corruption in the wildlife and forestry sectors.

Programme activities include:

  1. Training and mentoring for prosecutors and investigators on criminal analysis, financial investigations and asset recovery on wildlife corruption.
  2. Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) corruption case analysis.
  3. Development and support for the adoption of risk mitigation approaches for corruption risks in wildlife agencies.
  4. Support for the highlighting of corruption prevention issues at the inter-agency initiative on tackling IWT.

Assignment

The Consultant will work together with partner agencies in Malawi to develop corruption prevention action plans and assist with the implementation of the action plans.

The candidate will be expected to have prior experience in corruption prevention, risk mitigation and internal controls in Malawi or in another African country.

Activities and timeline

Based on the deliverables already completed under this ongoing project, the following activities are to be implemented by 30 June 2024:

  • Study and understand previous work on a process-focused corruption risk assessment and internal controls review in Malawi.
  • If necessary, augment the tools to match agency-specific needs.
  • Organise and deliver training to partner agencies on corruption risk assessment and risk mitigation.
  • Together with partner agencies, conduct agency-specific corruption risk assessments and develop mitigation strategies.
  • Analyse, interpret and document the results/findings of the corruption risk assessments and internal control reviews to develop new / improve existing procedures, policies and strategies for the partner agencies to reduce corruption risks.
  • Assist the partner agencies in implementing corruption prevention procedures, policies and strategies.
  • Coordinate and liaise with members of the IACCWC task force to strengthen corruption prevention efforts under the task force.Deliverables
  • Completed corruption risk assessment for one or two agencies.
  • Mitigation strategies for two or three agencies.
  • Assistance with the implementation of corruption mitigation measures in three agencies.

Reporting

The consultant will report to the Environmental Crime Specialist and the Malawi Technical Lead of the Green Corruption programme.

Qualifications

  • At least five years’ experience in corruption prevention, risk management or internal controls, either in government or the private sector.
  • Very good understanding of government internal functioning and corruption prevention instruments in Malawi (e.g. National Anti-Corruption Strategy II) or in other African countries.
  • Ability to relate risk management and internal control concepts to non-experts.
  • Excellent English presentation and writing skills.
  • Experience working with government wildlife agencies is an advantage.
  • Demonstrated understanding of international standards and good practices for risk management and/or internal controls is an advantage.
  • Experience in training on corruption prevention is an advantage.NB: This is a full-time position based in Lilongwe, Malawi, or in another African country with frequent travel to Malawi.

How to apply

Applications

Interested applicants should submit a CV, contact details of three professional references and a letter of motivation of not more than two pages, outlining: (i) their relevant experience for the assignment; (ii) the steps and activities they would undertake in order to execute the assignment; (iii) and any clarifications they would wish to seek from the Basel Institute prior to executing the assignment. All documents should be merged in a single PDF file.

Please submit applications to proposal@baselgovernance.org no later than 18:00 CET on 10 January 2024. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.