USPSC - Anti-Corruption/Illicit Finance Advisor

As the home base for USAID’s Democracy, Human Rights and Governance (DRG) programs, the DRG Center focuses on advocating for democratic governance, driving important research, and supporting over 90 field missions worldwide to develop programs. USAID’s DRG sector includes support for good governance and anti-corruption, rule of law, elections and political processes, civil society and media, human rights, and other DRG fields. USAID currently manages over $1.7 billion a year on a broad range of democracy programs covering justice, human rights, citizen security, civil society, media, local government, legislatures, constitutional reform, political parties, elections, anti-corruption, and anti-trafficking in persons. These efforts are critical to improve government effectiveness, accountability, transparency and legitimacy, and to ensure citizens are empowered to play a role in public affairs and the decisions that affect their daily lives. They also underpin the sustainability of the

Agency’s socio-economic development sectors. The DRG Center leads the Agency in supporting overall efforts to advance democracy, human rights, and governance.The DRG Center's annual budget is over $146 million, with a staff of over 90, comprised of U.S. Direct Hires (USDHs), contractors, and Fellows. The DRG Center currently has ten technical teams: Cadre Care & Development (CC&D), Civil Society and Media (CSM), Countering Authoritarianism Team (CAT), Democratic Elections and Political Processes (DEPP), Evidence and Learning (E&L), External Engagement and Integration (EE&I), Governance (GOV), Justice, Rights and Security (JRS), Policy, Coordination and Integration (PCI), and the Program Team. The DRG Center's goal is to promote peace, prosperity and freedom around the globe through citizen-responsive governance that respects human dignity and the rule of law. The DRG Center achieves this through high quality support to USAID Missions, generating and disseminating knowledge on best practices, and providing leadership on DRG to the wider USG and the international development community.As part of its core service mandate, DRG’s Governance Team (GOV) provides technical expertise, support and leadership on USAID efforts to help countries build public institutions that are resilient, transparent, and accountable to citizens. This includes enhancing the capacity and commitment of executive and legislative institutions at all levels of government to provide effective, inclusive and citizen-responsive services and to efficiently and transparently mobilize, spend, and account for public resources to meet development and economic growth objectives. GOV currently serves as the home for USAID's anti-corruption work, including strengthening the overall ecosystem for countries to effectively prevent, detect, mitigate and combat corruption, and supporting integration of anti-corruption approaches and activities across the Agency's sectoral programming. GOV also serves as the Urban focal point at USAID, coordinating programming and strategic thinking among pillar and regional bureaus to leverage urbanization in support of economic development and improved service delivery.  As part of its core service mandate, GOV provides technical expertise, support, and leadership on all these issues to USAID operating units, interagency teams, and multilateral partners GOV works collaboratively with other DRG Divisions and USAID operating units to provide USAID Missions and DRG officers worldwide with innovative and integrated technical assistance.Technical experts within GOV design programs and strategies aimed at enhancing the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of public institutions across all branches of government and at the national and local level, including building the capacity of core public institutions to deliver public services and to fulfill their governance mandate. GOV’s technical approach is to balance and improve state capacity and responsiveness with accountability, including developing programs that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of institutions and empower civil society with the tools they need to hold the government to account. GOV bolsters the evidence base for successful governance activities, facilitates trainings to build the capacity of Agency staff, and engages with and provides technical leadership and advice to Agency and bureau staff, inter-agency counterparts, multilateral partners, and implementing partners on key and emerging issues in governance. Other critical division activities include the evaluation and assessment of field-based activities; dissemination of best practices; global mechanism management; and effective stewardship of centrally-managed funds.The GOV team supports USAID’s approach to combating corruption, which is long-term, holistic and systems-oriented. USAID’s anti-corruption programs seek to systematically enhance the long-term and sustainable capacity of countries to prevent, detect, mitigate, and sanction corruption, as well as address the underlying drivers, constraints, incentives, opportunities and behaviors that allow corruption to flourish. By bolstering the legal/regulatory anti-corruption framework; strengthening oversight institutions; enhancing public financial management and procurement processes; building the capacity of the justice sector to detect, identify and sanction corruption; and empowering communities to push for transparency, USAID’s anti-corruption programs seek to assist countries to improve the accountability of public institutions to their citizens and safeguard public resources.A key aspect of this work involves strengthening the corruption prevention architecture of public sector institutions, in particular in the areas of detection, identification, monitoring and internal audit. One piece of this involves enhancing the public financial management and effective tax framework within countries, to ensure both transparency and accountability for public resources. Equally as important is work aimed at enhancing the ability of country-level oversight institutions - including ombudsman offices, special prosecutors, supreme audit institutions, and financial task teams - to understand, detect and track illicit finance, corruption streams, and money laundering (e.g. to “follow the money”), especially as these relate to broader transnational organized crime. GOV supports design and strategy work aimed at enhancing these capacities at the country level, while also working in alignment with broad U.S. Government policy in supporting country-level adherence and commitment to the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and other international treaties and conventions. While forming part of GOV’s existing anti-corruption approach, issues around safeguarding public funds/financial flows from corruption are of increased importance given the Administration’s focus on combating corruption as part of a broader, U.S. Government strategy. As part of GOV, the Anti-Corruption/Illicit Finance Advisor (AC/IF Advisor) will leverage her/his considerable expertise in anti-money laundering, financial flows and crimes, and sanctions regimes to help the Agency meet demand for technical assistance in anti-corruption/illicit finance.  Working as a member of the GOV Team’s Anti-Corruption Sub-team, the AC/IF Advisor will design anti-corruption/illicit finance activities, projects and tools; support the development of strategy and country-level plans, design, and evaluation of programs; participate in the development of anti-corruption-related performance indicators; conduct DRG and other assessments; support integration of best practices and lessons learned into cross-sectoral programming; deliver technical training; lead or co-lead the development of technical materials related to anti-corruption and illicit finance; and provide strategic and technical support to the Agency’s regional bureaus and field missions. The AC/IF Advisor will also coordinate with the planned agency-level USAID Anti-Corruption Task Force (ACTF).The incumbent is expected to carry out work assignments using independent professional judgment to ensure the effective technical leadership and technical support for USAID’s DRG sector in Washington and overseas Missions. On TDY and in Washington D.C., s/he will work closely with USAID colleagues to: identify opportunities for USAID to strengthen the capacity of country-level anti-corruption institutions, processes and mechanisms; design activities responding to those opportunities; work with partners to effectively implement those activities; monitor the impact of those activities; and other associated technical and managerial assistance. Under the direction of the GOV Team Lead, the AC/IF Advisor will work closely with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, including other DRG colleagues and divisions, the anticipated ACTF, USAID staff in other bureaus and operating units, interagency colleagues at the Departments of State, Justice and Treasury (as required), and implementing partners. The incumbent’s responsibilities will be geographically world-wide, varied, and dynamic to reflect changing circumstances facing USAID and the DRG Center.