100 Anti-Corruption Establishment employees to be trained

ACE signs agreement with British Council for technical training of its workers

KARACHI: The British Council and Sindh Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Thursday, according to which the British Council will provide technical support for capacity building of 100 ACE workers.

The MoU was signed by British Council Sindh and Balochistan area-director Robin Davies and ACE chairperson Ghulam Qadir Thebo at British Council office in Karachi. The participants will be provided with necessary training to enable them to effectively root out corruption from the province.

The training, which will be conducted by experts from United Kingdom (UK), will last for six months and will be divided into three stages. In the first stage, needs of the ACE will be determined and the participants will be trained accordingly. The participating staff members will also visit the UK and universities there, as part of their study tour.

"Pakistan has gone up 20 places in the corruption index," Davies said. He added that the project will improve transparency, accountability and also gain the trust of Pakistanis. He said this project will help in improving communication between different sectors and in linking them. He added that if this project is successful, it can be expanded to other provinces and at federal level, although there are no such plans at present.

"Since we lack quality investigation [techniques], such trainings will help raise the conviction rates," Thebo said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2016.