| Overview : The UNDP Pacific Centre was officially opened in July 2006 and acts as a pillar of support to the three main UNDP offices in the Pacific in Fiji, PNG and Samoa. The Centre delivers an integrated approach to development as well as policy and technical advice through the UNDP Country Offices and through them the 15 Pacific Island countries (PICs) and the territory of Tokelau. UNDP has been working for the last five years with Pacific partners to raise awareness and build capacity on tackling corruption regionally and nationally. The Pacific Centre is currently implementing the joint UNDP-UNODC “UN Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption” (UN-PRAC) Project. This aims to support PICs to strengthen their capacity to address corruption in order to provide better service delivery and development outcomes for their peoples. To date, 10 PICs have become States parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) - Papua New Guinea in 2007, Fiji in 2008, Palau in 2009, Vanuatu, Cook Islands and the Marshall Islands in 2011, and the Solomon Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru in 2012 and Kiribati in 2013. While ratification of UNCAC is recognized as a positive demonstration of political commitment in the fight against corruption, the main focus of the Project is to support the implementation of sustainable and effective anti-corruption reform, leveraging off UNCAC as the primary international legislative framework for fighting corruption and monitoring country-level reform efforts. The UN-PRAC Project aims to help PICs fight corruption by supporting: i) UNCAC ratification; ii) UNCAC implementation through the strengthening of policies, laws, measures and institutional frameworks; and iii) engagement in the UNCAC processes, including the mechanism for the review of implementation of UNCAC (Implementation Review Mechanism). More broadly, UNDP and UNODC provide responsive, demand-driven technical assistance to support individual countries to develop policies, laws and institutional frameworks to advance the effective implementation of UNCAC, as well as provide capacity development support to existing national accountability institutions, being sensitive to the particular operating contexts of small islands states. The Project also strengthens the capacity of non-state actors with a view to improving their ability to prevent, detect, investigate, prosecute and sanction cases of corruption more effectively. In 2009, the World Bank Institute (“WBI”), in its effort to tackle corruption, stressed that young citizens can be powerful agents for change and innovation when they find a space where they can voice their views, develop leadership capacity, and interact creatively. Pursuing this idea, WBI began identifying youth organizations engaged in the promotion of anti-corruption strategies around the world. As a result, a core group made up of young change-makers from nine (9) countries was formed. In this group, experiences were shared, specialized trainings were provided, and video-conferences were held in preparation for a launching event that would serve as a springboard to establish a global youth network that would bring together young citizens from around the world to fight against corruption. This was the Global Youth Anti-Corruption Network (“GYAC”). The purpose of the Regional Youth Officer placement at the Pacific Youth Council is to support establishment and sustainability of a broad Pacific anti-corruption youth network. |
