International Anti-Corruption Conference:
Youth, academics and administrators gather to find innovative solutions to ending corruption through education
Nur-Sultan, 9-10 December 2019 - Marking the International Anti-Corruption Day, the objective of the Conference, which was organized by the National Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan and UNODC, was to bring together practitioners and experts to discuss best practices and initiatives in the area of anti-corruption and to promote public participation and accountability in combating this complex phenomenon, which requires simultaneous approaches, including education programmes that empower future generations to resist and prevention corruption.
On the first day of the conference, UNODC's Education for Justice (E4J) tools on anti-corruption, ethics and integrity for the primary, secondary and tertiary educational level were presented in an interactive way to State representatives, heads of universities, professors, students and youth organizations. On the second day, representatives of the government and parliament of Kazakhstan and international experts discussed anti-corruption measures, challenges and good practices with regard to topics such as illicit enrichment, integrity testing, whistleblowing, anti-corruption legislation and education as well as the role of civil society and the private sector in anti-corruption.
Within the framework of the International Anti-Corruption Conference, UNODC, the National Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the Academy for Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan jointly hosted the Youth forum on 9 December 2019. Bringing together over 200 participants working in the area of anti-corruption as well as youth, the youth forum was designed to promote public participation and accountability in finding ways to combat this complex phenomenon.
Given the multifaceted issues surrounding corruption, the forum was designed to look at this from a number of approaches - including through educational programmes in order to empower future generations to resist and prevent this crime.
During the forum, the E4J initiative was presented, including its tools on anti-corruption as well as ethics and integrity which have been designed in an age-appropriate manner for primary, secondary and tertiary level students.
Through a series of interactive sessions involving State representatives, academics, students, and youth organizations, the conference provided a sounding board for E4J activities, in order to adapt and localize materials around national needs. Feedback from the key recipients - the youth who themselves will benefit from these materials - was encouraging, with a number speaking positively on the E4J materials: "Thanks to the games we've played, I am realizing that actually corruption leads nowhere," said one of the students during one of several interactive sessions.
On the part of the administrators and educators in attendance, the outcome of the first day of the forum was equally positive. Participants expressed their keenness to integrate the E4J educational tools into their curriculum and further develop and adapt them to the national environment as part of their efforts to use education to tackle social ills, such as corruption. Indeed, the anti-corruption, integrity and ethics E4J teaching tools and modules are aligned to international standards enshrined in the United Nations Convention against Corruption - the only legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument which the Republic of Kazakhstan ratified in June 2008.
