Tackling corruption in infrastructure requires more than rules and oversight — it requires collaboration. This is the central message CoST – Infrastructure Transparency Initiative will bring to a guest lecture at the International Anti-Corruption Academy on 14 April.

The session will explore how collective action can help address corruption risks in the infrastructure sector, drawing on CoST’s multi-stakeholder approach and real-world experiences from across its global membership.

Infrastructure is widely recognised as one of the sectors most vulnerable to corruption. The complexity, scale and long timelines of infrastructure projects make it difficult for single institutions to address integrity risks alone. CoST’s model responds to this challenge by bringing together government, industry and civil society to improve transparency and accountability in public infrastructure.

Rather than treating collaboration as an additional component, collective action is embedded at the heart of the CoST approach. Multi-stakeholder working groups create a structured space where representatives from different sectors engage on equal footing and shape solutions to shared governance challenges.

Collective action does not happen automatically. It requires active management of conflicts of interest, balanced participation across stakeholder groups and strong safeguards to maintain independence from vested interests. Building trust and credibility among stakeholders is therefore fundamental to making collaboration effective.

Examples from CoST members illustrate how collective action can support meaningful change. In Uganda, engagement with the private sector has helped increase participation from local contractors in public procurement processes. In Ghana, collaboration between communities and public authorities in Sekondi-Takoradi has contributed to improvements in infrastructure accessibility and value for money.

Through its contribution to the IACA programme, CoST aims to share lessons from these experiences and highlight how collaborative approaches can strengthen integrity and accountability in infrastructure worldwide.