Why this training?

The idea of this training was tailor-made in response to the need of having a professional cohort of trainers with sufficient knowledge of integrity, accountability, transparency, and public money preservation. Against the lack of knowledge of integrity and anti-corruption mechanisms among key sections of the Palestinian society such as university students and institutions working at the supervision front, NAZAHA places niche focus on the preventative measures to put a stop to corruption rather than seeing it coming. This rationale led us to build up a sustainable tool. Specialized training is one of the tools NAZAHA wields to achieve its objectives and become in a time to come a training edifice that offers specialized training courses on integrity, accountability, corruption fighting and prepare accomplished trainers and experts in these fields.

The Academy aims at training targeted groups to face and resist the different forms of corruption, including awareness training courses and workshops. Some of the said institutions stand in an urgent need for such courses given their tenderfoot despite the significant role and the critical missions they undertake in the Palestinian society. Such servants could be dragged into the bog of corruption if not trained how to face potential corruption risks.

 

Who can attend?

NAZAHA provides specialized and general training courses that suit the needs of the target institutions. There are also general training courses for all sections to raise their awareness of integrity, preservation of public funds, and fighting corruption.

All of the training courses aim at benefiting all the sections of society including public servants, university students, academicians, citizens, and the staff of local government units employees as well as different sectors like health, education, and water. Bottom line, the specialized training courses are tailor-made to meet the needs of the target groups.

 

Significance:

Specialized training gains significance by enhancing the knowledge and skills of callow trainees in relation to integrity and preservation of public funds to perform their tasks integrally and transparently. As for experienced target groups, this training helps them improve the required skills to better perform their tasks. Simply, the specialized training serves as a support and a catalyst to leverage the skills of the target employees to meet the bar of the job requirements and enhance their performance in an integral and transparent fashion.

Suggested Training Modules:
Module Name Module Sections
The conceptual framework of integrity, transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption
  • Corruption concept
  • Corruption size
  • Corruption types
  • Corruption impacts
  • Integrity concept and indicators
  • Transparency concept and indicators
  • Accountability concept and indicators
Public Service Code of Conduct
  • Public servant concept and the function of public service
  • The significance of public service
  • Rights and duties of public servants
  • Public servant ethics
  • Financial disclosure of public servants
  • Codes of conduct
  • Avoidance mechanisms of conflict of interests for public servants
  • Management mechanisms of gifts, benefits, hospitality for public servants
Module Name Module Sections
The legal and institutional structures for the enhancement of integrity and corruption resistance in Palestine
  • The anti-corruption legal framework:
    • Penal legislation
    • Anti-Corruption Law
    • State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau Act
    • Civil Service Act
    • Public Procurement Decree-by-Law
  • United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)
  • Institutional anti-corruption framework:
    • The Palestinian Anti-corruption Commission (PACC)
    • The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau
    • The Legislative Council
Legal protection of public funds
  • The concept of public funds
  • Characteristics of public funds
  • The significance of public funds preservation
  • Judicial protection of public funds
  • Civil protection of public funds
  • Administrative protection of public funds
  • International experiences in public funds protection
Crimes against the duties of the public service
  • Bribery
  • Embezzlement
  • Abuse of power
  • Leniency toward office duties
  • Disclosure of work secrets
  • Refusal of judgement execution
  • Refusal of meeting administrative or court requests
Reporting corruption and protection of witnesses and whistle-blowers
  • The concept of corruption reporting
  • The significance of corruption reporting
  • Safeguards of corruption reporting
  • International principals and best practices of corruption reporting
  • Challenges of corruption reporting
  • The ways of the protection of whistle-blowers in corruption cases
  • International experiences in the protection of the witnesses, whistle-blowers and experts in corruption cases
Module Name Module sections
Fighting tax evasion and protecting the public funds
  • Tax concept
  • Tax characteristics and objectives
  • Tax types
  • Tax evasion concept
  • Distinguishing tax evasion from similar terms
  • Reasons behind tax evasion
  • Methods of tax evasion
  • Size of tax evasion
  • Impacts of tax evasion
  • Issues and challenges of flowing up tax evasion cases
  • Legal and institutional methods of fighting tax evasion
  • International experiences in tax evasion fighting
Basics of research and investigation of corruption cases
  • The concept of research and investigation in corruption cases
  • The significance of research and investigation in corruption cases
  • Competent authorities specialized in research and gathering relevant evidence in corruption crimes
  • Sources and mechanisms of detecting corruption crimes
  • The concept of preliminary investigation in corruption crimes
  • Competent authorities specialized in the investigation in corruption crimes
  • Safeguards of the investigation of corruption crimes
  • Primary investigation procedure in corruption crimes
  • Findings of investigation in corruption crimes
  • Investigation result management mechanisms in corruption cases
The role of audit and control in corruption reduction
  • The concept of financial corruption
  • Reasons behind the spread of financial corruption
  • Types of financial corruption
  • The economic and social impacts of financial corruption
  • Financial control concept
  • The significance of financial control
  • The legislative framework of financial control
  • Specialized institutions in financial control
  • Methods of financial control
  • Procedures of financial control
  • Reports of financial control
  • Follow-up mechanisms of financial control results
Integrity, transparency and accountability in public procurement
  • The concept of public procurement
  • The significance of integrity, transparency and accountability in public procurement
  • Governing rules of integrity in public procurement:
    • The actual need for contracting
    • Avoidance of conflict of interests
    • Financial disclosure
    • Refusal of accepting gifts
  • Governing rules of transparency in public procurement:
    • The openness of the contracting
    • Equality among contractors
    • Free competition among contractors
    • Right to access information
    • Explanation of award decisions
  • Governing rules of accountability in public procurement:
    • Pre-contract consultancies
    • Financial approval of contracting
    • Contract permission
    • Ratification of decisions regarding contracting
    • Provision of the right to administrative grievance
    • Provision of the right to challenge;
  • Competent authorities in charge of the supervision of compliance with of integrity, transparency, accountability rules in public procurement:
    • Public procurement bodies
    • The Supreme Council of Public Procurement Policies (SCPPP)
    • PACC
    • The Legislative Council
    • The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau
Module Name Module Sections
The role of religious and educational institutions in promoting integrity, transparency, and corruption fighting
  • Corruption concept
  • Corruption types
  • The role of the religious institutions in fighting corruption:
    • The interpretation of the Holy Quran of the concept and types of corruption
    • The interpretation of the Sunna of the concept and types of corruption
    • The mechanisms of the religious institution in empowering integrity and fighting corruption
  • The role of the educational institutions in fighting corruption:
    • The educational curriculum and corruption fighting
    • The role of schools in fighting corruption
    • The role of colleges and universities in fighting corruption
The role of media in promoting integrity, transparency, and corruption fighting
  • The concept of media institutions
  • Types of media institutions
  • The significance of the role media institutions play in fighting corruption
  • The mechanisms media institutions use to fight corruption
The role of the private sector and the civil society in promoting integrity, transparency, and fighting corruption
  • The role of the private sector in fighting corruption
    • The concept of the private sector
    • The significance of the private sector in fighting corruption
    • Corporate governance
    • Monopolistic practices
    • Private sector employees code of conduct
    • Money laundering
  • The role of the civil society in fighting corruption
    • The concept of civil society
    • The significance of the civil society’s role in fighting corruption
    • Mechanisms of the civil society in fighting corruption
    • Limitations of the role of the civil society in fighting corruption.
    • Promotion of integrity, transparency, and accountability in the civil society organizations (CSOs).

Introduction

The Academy for Integrity (NAZAHA) aims through this training course at training a group of trainers on the techniques and methods of modern training.

The course focuses on the effective implementation of the training according to a variety of methods, and the basic elements regarding the procedures of the supervision and evaluation. Placing a niche focus on equipping the trainers with the skills of integrity and preservation of public funds, the training also takes into consideration providing examples and case studies regarding such topics.

It is important that the participants have relevant experience in a relevant field such as public administration and law, local governance, health and education sectors, crimes of money laundering, economic crimes, information and investigation, financial control, procurement and bidding, and the general budget. Noting that the Academy looks forward to achieving that through enabling and training the trainers to become experts and professional trainers on integrity and preserving public funds.

General Objectives:

To enable the trainers to implement the training through a variety of mechanisms and methods, and to evaluate the training, efficiently.

Specific Objectives:

Upon active engagement and genuine commitment to the program, the trainees are expected to be able to:

  • Draw the basic elements to consider for the success of the training;
  • Distinguish the training from the education and identify its objectives and principles;
  • Acknowledge and consider the principals of the adult learning in training;
  • Establish the stages of the course and the way they relate to each other;
  • Draw the components of efficient training;
  • Plan for the training in light of the elements of efficient training;
  • Identify the qualifications and skills of the efficient trainer;
  • Distinguish between the types of trainees and how to approach them;
  • Distinguish between the methods of training and choose the suitable one in each situation;
  • Efficiently apply the different training methods;
  • Evaluate the training with different tools and methods.

Training methods and activities:

The active learning and interactive training methods will be applied, especially role play, case studies, problem-solving, discussions, learning through play, and learning in pairs and groups. The focus will also be on the real and practical activities and examples that are close to the trainees and suit different modes of learning. Such modes allow the trainee to experience a real-life situation. Therefore, the program includes the application of the trainees of a certain practical training activity, as well as receiving feedback on their work.

The second step that comes after training the trainers is building knowledge. The objective of this training course is to build knowledge of the trainers through a one-year-long training programme. It aims to educate and provide them with specific materials, reports, and case studies. It also aims to assign them to learn about integrity by providing them with reading material followed by applied case studies on the material they previously read. Each session will be set to discuss said materials, to then hear the opinions and comments on the subject in hand.

In a similar vein, each session will be given over to cover a specific topic. Accordingly, previous readings and case studies will be sent to the trainers, so the discussion will be based on that. Therefore, knowledge will be built blow-by-blow to put trainers on the road of being experts on integrity.