In order to support and strengthen transition partner countries’ capacity of investigating and prosecuting corruption cases and recovering stolen public assets, in 2006 the Basel Institute of Governance established the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) – an independent not-for-profit centre of excellence in asset recovery.
In 2019, 4 years later since the commissioning of the first external review and the definition of ICAR’s operational strategy for 2017-2020, SAFE was awarded the second external review with the goal of:
- Assessing the effective implementation of the Operational Strategy 2017-2020
- Ascertaining ICAR’s operational approach and organizational structure relevance
- Informing the new 4-year operational strategy and related donor funding commitments
Implemented over a 6 months period through a series of desk analysis, remote interviews, field missions (Kenya, Malawi, Peru), online surveys as well as bilateral discussions with ICAR staff, donors, advisors and beneficiaries, the second external review found out that ICAR have achieved significant concrete results in all areas assessed for the period 2017-2020.
In particular, besides a window for improvement both operationally and in terms of international recognition, ICAR’s added value, high relevance in the asset recovery work worldwide, and potential to improve its value even further positively stuck out.
Within this context, SAFE is glad to have completed the assignment and to have presented it to ICAR’s donors, namely NORAD, SDC, DFID, Principality of Lichtenstein and the Governorate of Jersey.