Sectoral Risk Assessment in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Despite an initial energetic start by the Sri Lankan Government with the creation of a number of bodies dealing with the SDGs, such as the Ministry of Sustainable Development and wildlife and the Sustainable Development Council to name a few, there has been little progress on their implementation, or of streamlining action across relevant ministries and public authorities. This lack of coordinated action becomes clear when considering that out of the 244 official SDG indicators, information is only available and being gathered for 46 indicators. The information given mostly provides a quantitative perspective and lacks a qualitative insight into progress made. Furthermore, the indicators do not take into account the role of corruption in achieving the targets.

In an effort to bridge this gap, the Transparency International Secretariat developed a civil society reporting guideline which outlines alternative indicators and data sources relevant to four corruption-related targets under Goal 16, namely 16.4, 16.5, 16.6 and 16.10. Taking this a step further, Transparency International Sri Lanka initiated an assessment of corruption risk factors in 4 specific SDGs, Goal 4 – Health, Goal 5 – Education, Goal 6 – Gender and Goal 13 – Climate Action, to identify forms of corruption that may affect their fullest achievement in order to develop indicators to ensure that this threat is mitigated.

These indicators can feed into the overall SDG monitoring framework of Sri Lanka and can be used by non-state actors when advocating for change and progress relevant to each of the sectors.

Methodology

Four Sustainable Development Goals - Health, Education, Gender and Climate Change - were assessed through the lens of corruption to identify and provide an overview on risk that may hinder the achievement of these goals in Sri Lanka.

Each SDG was viewed from three dimensions:

• Mapping of the different stakeholders in the particular sector
• Identifying the types of corruption and the most prevalent practices of corruption in the sector.
• Identifying gaps in the legal framework

The methodology employed in this assessment is comprised of the following steps:

• A literature review – this involved a review of published journals, articles, research papers, electronic media and websites
• Preliminary Stakeholder Discussions
• Discussions with specific sector stakeholders discussing and sharing their experience and views on the topics mentioned below

• How does corruption happen in their respective sector?
• What are the most prevalent practices of corruption?
• What are the risk areas/most prevalent area in which corruption occurs in the sector?
• What are the gaps in the legal framework?

Interviews were held with experts in the selected sectors. This involved four extended interviews with an expert in each sector. In the health sector, the expert was the President of a prominent health sector association.

Preliminary Stakeholder Discussions were conducted in two events organized by Transparency International Sri Lanka. Stakeholders from each sector were invited in order to discuss the aforementioned topics to gather relevant data. The data which was gathered as explained above was reviewed by the Transparency International Secretariat (TIS) and comments and suggestions were provided on the findings.

Findings

1. Corruption takes place in a subtle but systematic way on a daily basis in the health sector. The most prevalent forms of corruption include informal payments by patients to service providers; absenteeism (workers who are legitimately on a payroll but are chronically absent without approval); ghost workers (non-existent individuals receiving salaries through the payroll system); reimbursement fraud (requesting insurance payments for services not rendered); dual practice (clinicians with salaries in the public sector who also maintain a private practice to divert patients or resources for their own financial gain); and improper marketing (promoting a drug for a clinical indication that is not approved for use; misleading marketing claims).
2. Moreover, types of corruption in the health sector can also occur across multiple dimensions. According to Transparency International’s findings there are eight key areas of susceptibility: (i) health-systems governance; (ii) health-systems regulation; (iii) research and development; (iv) marketing; (v) procurement; (vi) product distribution and storage; (vii) financial and workforce management; and (viii) delivery of healthcare services (Petkov and Cohen, 2016).

Recommendations

• Corruption in health, education, gender and climate change sector is a major challenge to achieving sustainable development. Efforts to curb corruption need to begin locally, recognising the unique and destructive consequences of corruption. We argue that combating corruption should be a core value of the SDGs, due to its links to human rights, equity, and economic development. Combating corruption in these sectors is critical to ensure the sustainability of human development in 2030 and beyond.

Impact

TI Sri Lanka presented the findings and identified indicators to the relevant stakeholders in each sector including the Government Institutions and Civil Society Organisations and advocated to integrate the indicators to capture progress against corruption and achieve policy improvements in the health sector.