AusAID new U4 partner agency

The U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre assists donor practitioners in more effectively addressing corruption challenges through their development support. U4 now serves eight development agencies: Norad (Norway), DFID (UK), CIDA (Canada), GTZ (Germany), MinBuZa (the Netherlands), Sida (Sweden), BTC (Belgium) and AusAID (Australia), providing resources and services.

Through this extensive online resource centre, U4 guides users to relevant anti-corruption resources, including U4 applied research (Themes), and communicate the work of the U4 partner agencies through a searchable database of projects and initiatives. U4 also offers a Help Desk service and provide online as well as in-country training on anti-corruption measures and strategies for partner agencies and their counterparts.

The U4 Resource Centre is operated and run by CMI. The Transparency International Secretariat in Berlin is is responsible for the U4 Help Desk.

Background
The Resource Centre was initially established in 2002 as a result of the so-called 'Utstein-partnership' which begun in 1999 with an initiative taken by the ministers of international development from the Netherlands, Germany, Norway and the UK to formalise their cooperation. High on the priority list was anti-corruption.

Sweden (Sida) and Canada (CIDA) joined as U4 partners in 2005, and since then the U4 Resource Centre has outlived the original political-level 'Utstein-cooperation', and continues to provide focused, donor relevant information and services to its partner agencies. In January 2008, BTC (Belgium) also became a funding U4 Partner.