Citizens and business people may invest significant time and money in building informal networks with public officials to overcome public service delivery shortcomings and access business opportunities. Understanding these networks better can strengthen anti-corruption efforts.

This research case study gives a brief overview of our Public Governance team’s research in Uganda and Tanzania. Through interviews, the team explored when, how and why informal networks are built and used to access public services or business opportunities corruptly.

The research project described was carried out under the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (GI-ACE), funded with UK aid from the UK government. All results are freely shareable under a Creative Commons licence.