Last week, CABRI and the Swedish Tax Agency (STA) held a benchmarking workshop in Sweden as part of the International Capability Building Programme (ICBP) to combat Illicit Financial Flows (IFF). Country-teams from different government agencies in Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zambia attended the workshop.
One of the programme's primary objectives is to cultivate strong local coalitions which are one of the key aspects that have hindered initiatives to tackle IFF in the past. By bringing together different government entities, such as tax authorities, law enforcement and regulatory bodies, participants can leverage diverse expertise and perspectives. It is with this idea in mind that Swedish agencies like the Swedish Police, the Swedish Economic Crime Agency and the Swedish Courts presented and shared their experiences of problem areas in Sweden. The Tax Crime Department of the STA also participated, and shared how they collaborate with other agencies to combat organised crime and money laundering.
The ICBP on IFF uses this collaborative model to develop comprehensive and consensual solutions that address the root causes of IFFs and enhance overall governance. Country-teams will thus address long-standing IFF problems using the Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) approach. A problem-focused methodology that fosters local ownership and empowers country-teams to forge local coalitions.
The country-teams will meet again in Africa in late September 2025 to discuss their progress and share how the use of the PDIA approach has improved their findings.