Princeton University’s Innovations for Successful Societies program and Kyiv’s Anticorruption Research and Education Centre are together helping the Ukrainian government fight corruption during reconstruction. Their first output is a four-day program that began today to share experiences elsewhere in curbing corruption in construction projects. Attending are frontline staff from the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, the State Agency for Reconstruction and Development, and other agencies and departments responsible for reconstruction.

Funded by the International Renaissance Foundation and USAID, Deputy Infrastructure Minister Serhiy Derkach opened the program. Princeton Professor Jenifer Widner, head of the Princeton program, Oskana Nesterenko, ACREC Executive Director, and representatives of AID and the Renaissance Foundation also spoke. Hamish Goldie-Scot, CoST Technical Director, and I will lead the discussions. The agenda is here, my opening remarks below.

Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s founders, famously said that: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Franklin’s advice was delivered to the residents of colonial Philadelphia grappling with fire hazards created by wood structures.  Those working on infrastructure know well that Franklin’s advice applies as well to corruption hazards. Curing corruption through the investigation and prosecution of those who corrupt a single project is costly and time-consuming. There is no guarantee of a successful outcome nor assurance that a successful outcome will deter others from similar conduct.

Far better to build safeguards into the design, procurement, and execution of a construction project. To prevent corruption from infecting it in the first place.  With 16 ounces to the pound, by Franklin’s reckoning efforts to prevent corruption are 16 times as valuable as sinking the same amount of resources into work by NABU and SAPO. My experience suggests that, if anything, Franklin measure of the value of preventative efforts considerably understates it value. 

That is why we are so pleased to have the opportunity to share with you our learning on prevention techniques.  The costs of rebuilding Ukraine are projected to run into the hundreds of billions of dollars. That makes the value of prevention efforts inestimable.

The measures Hamish and I will discuss are ones we have learned from decades of working on projects around the globe. For some here today, much if not all this material will not be new. Infrastructure corruption schemes share many commonalities whether found in New York City, Paris, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Tokyo, or elsewhere. What we hope to do over the next four days is help you turn what authorities from other nations have learned about fighting infrastructure corruption into concrete measures to meet the corruption challenges Ukraine faces today.

Our presentations will cover the many areas where we have found corruption is most likely to sneak into a project. One could spend days if not weeks on some of them.  For many our purpose is to alert you to the corruption hazards that lurk and techniques for staving them off.  Please let us know what more you think it would be useful for you or your colleagues to know about a specific topic. And what areas we have overlooked.

If I may, a personal note. I was privileged to be in Kyiv on December 1, 1991.  The day the Ukrainian people overwhelming decided to become a free and independent state. Over the years I have sought to ensure that decision stands, that Ukraine continues on the path of freedom and independence. Corruption threatens both those goals, and so for me it is a special pleasure to help you ensure it does not. 

To an early and overwhelming victory for Ukraine.