OVERVIEW

The MEC was established in 2011 to monitor and evaluate the Government of Afghanistan’s progress fighting internal corruption.

USAID has supported the MEC since 2015 in partnership with the United Kingdom Department for International Development. MEC is an independent agency, and is not subject to direction from either the Government of Afghan or from the international community. MEC’s directing committee oversees policy and strategy and the Secretariat conducts research, reviews, and assessments. The Committee consists of six senior anti-corruption experts selected through a nomination process overseen by the international community and the Government of Afghan.

MEC’s mandate is to identify effective developmental benchmarks and recommendations for institutions to implement in order to fight corruption at the national level. The MEC issues special reports on anti-corruption topics, engages with local organizations on anti-corruption issues, and develops and implements a public communication strategy on the organization's goals.

ACTIVITIES

• Use Vulnerability to Corruption (VCA) tools as the principal means of assessing corruption risks within government ministries, departments and agencies, and international aid programs.
• Conduct Ministry-Wide Vulnerability to Corruption Assessments (MVCAs) and other VCAs.
• Develop benchmarks and recommendations for addressing corruption within institutions.
• Engage in regular follow-up of implementation of benchmarks and recommendations.
• Produce special reports and enquiries.
• Review the anti-corruption plans from government ministries.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Conducted 15 VCAs, three MVCAs, eight follow-up reports of MVCAs, seven public enquiries, and 11 anti-corruption plan reviews.
• Provided and reviewed the status of 112 recommendations to the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). To date, MoPH has fully implemented 73 recommendations and partially implemented 35 recommendations. Based on MEC recommendations, the internal audit department of the MoPH continues to refer cases of suspected corruption to the Attorney General’s Office.
• Provided 113 recommendations to the Ministry of Education (MoE) in 2017. To date, the MoE has fully implemented 16 recommendations, and partially implemented 14.