Colombia—Partners for Transparency (PfT)

The Partners for Transparency (PfT) program supports locally driven solutions that increase transparency and accountability and reduce corruption in Colombia. This activity—implemented with partners Foro por Colombia, Transparencia por Colombia, the School of Government of the University of the Andes and La Silla Vacía—strengthens citizen-responsive governance and increases citizen trust by leveraging targeted stakeholders’ expertise, engagement, and unique positions of influence.

Sample Activities

• Advance national-level government transparency and accountability initiatives.
• Promote local-level civic participation.
• Strengthen oversight-and-control institutions’ efforts to fight corruption.
• Nurture a culture of transparency and accountability.
• Build local partner capacity and sustainability.

Select Results

• Provided technical assistance for the design of corruption risk maps in Cartagena to train public officials in corruption risk management. Four administrative units from the Mayor’s Office presented their maps to 100 stakeholders for evaluation. The risk maps make public officials aware of transparency issues, for which they can create oversight measures to mitigate the misspending of public funds.
• Assisted 15 companies to join the Anti-Corruption Business Commitment in Cartagena, Buenaventura, and Cordoba to promote integrity and transparency.
• Helped establish 18 Anti-Corruption Citizen Agendas with citizen oversight priorities with the participation of more than 200 organizations.
• Contributed to the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (2022-2026).
• Assisted with Colombia’s Fifth Open State Plan, co-created with 952 participants, including innovative commitments by national oversight bodies and the Constitutional Court to respectively promote fiscal transparency, monitor public resources, and publish clear legal language.
• Helped the Ministry of Environment take actions to improve access to environmental sector information.
• Worked with 15 municipalities and three districts to develop 18 anti-corruption plans, 11 corruption risk maps, as well as 38 participatory public accountability hearings tailored to different population groups.
• Assisted nearly 200 civil society organizations in contributing more than 400 proposals to citizen transparency and anti-corruption agendas identifying priority problems as well as possible solutions at the sub-national level. More than 700 people were trained at Citizen Participation and Anti-Corruption Schools.
• Trained the Inspector General, Comptroller, and Auditor’s offices to use data analytics to combat electoral irregularities, improve procurement practices, and strengthen corruption reporting channels.
• Trained 172 journalists in investigative skills, 85 on public procurement, and 69 on access to public information; four media outlets increased capacities in investigations and scrutiny of public decision making.
• Helped nine partners to enhance their own transparency and accountability practices through the Global Accountability Standard; seven improved their rating in their Organizational Capacity Assessment and three on the Organizational Performance Index.