Well, U4 is not a rock band, but it nevertheless rocks.
It is actually an "Anti-Corruption Resource Centre [that] assists donor practitioners to more effectively address corruption challenges through their development support."
The U4 Resource Centre is operated by the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), Bergen, Norway - a private social science research foundation working on issues of development and human rights.
U4's web site contains relevant anti-corruption resources, including U4's own applied research (Themes). U4 also communicates the work of the U4 partner agencies through a searchable database of projects and initiatives. It offers a Help Desk service (Transparency International's Secretariat in Berlin is responsible for the U4 Help Desk)
and provides online as well as in-country training on anti-corruption measures and strategies for partner agencies and their counterparts.
U4 was initially established in 2003 as a result of the so-called "Utstein-partnership" (*) which began in 1999 with an initiative taken by the ministers of international development from the Netherlands, Germany, Norway and the UK (a total of 4 countries, hence the U4 name) to formalize their cooperation. High on the priority list was anti-corruption. Sweden (Sida) and Canada (CIDA) joined as U4 partners in 2005.
Nowadays, U4 partners are six development agencies: Norad (Norway), DFID (UK), CIDA (Canada), GTZ (Germany), the Netherlands's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MinBuZa), and Sida (Sweden).
(*) Utstein Abbey is close to the city of Stavanger in Norway.
Posted by: Michel Lazare
