13 October 2024 – Tripoli, Libya
“What are the root causes of corruption and how can we measure it? What are the governance tools that we can use to prevent corruption? How can the private sector be an active player in combatting corruption?”
These are some of the questions that professors discuss among themselves during training of trainers (ToTs) workshops. UNODC in partnership with the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research have organized a series ToTs on “Methods of Teaching Academic Modules on Anti-Corruption for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime” with the support of the European Union.
The series of training took place within the framework of the project “Building Libya’s National Capacity to Prevent and Combat Corruption and Money Laundering.”
The ToT is part of the UNODC “Global Resource for Anti-Corruption Education and Youth Empowerment (GRACE)”initiative and aims to support Libyan professors and lecturers to gain knowledge, skills and methods of understanding of the patterns of corruption and relevant prevention in the public and private sector. Moreover, to have a grasp on the means of good governance and its application.
Over the course of eight months, a total of 110 teachers and professors—78 males and 32 females—were trained across 7 public universities, which together have an average student population of 100,000 and are part of the broader Libyan university system with an average of 150,000 students. This strong collaboration between UNODC and the Libyan Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research successfully contextualized and integrated the UNODC anti-corruption modules into the national higher educational system, potentially impacting the broader student population.
Reflecting on the progress made in strengthening anti-corruption education, Dr. Ahmed Mohsen, a Member of the Libyan Scientific Committee noted, "To develop anti-corruption curriculum to be taught at universities, several pivotal meetings and workshops were conducted at local and regional levels, particularly in Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia. These gatherings were marked by a solid and robust scientific discourse. UNODC contributed to the success of these efforts by providing dedicated substantive support and demonstrating hard work and commitment."
This series of ToTs will have a long-lasting impact as Libyan faculty staff members from 7 public universities will be able to transfer the knowledge and the experience they have received from UNODC experts on combatting corruption to more than 100,000 Libyan students.
These efforts stem from the belief in the role of young people to be agents of change in creating a culture that doesn’t accept corruption and to stand as ambassadors of transparency, accountability and integrity at all levels of the society.
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