The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Microsoft have expanded their partnership through a new initiative to use technology to help reduce corruption, increase transparency, and foster integrity in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) by leveraging the power of cloud computing and advanced analytics.
Funded by an initial contribution of $450,000 from Microsoft, the initiative will leverage the Bank’s development expertise and Microsoft’s technological capacity to develop high-impact projects that will enhance transparency and help prevent corruption.

Announced at a webinar featuring IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno and Microsoft President Brad Smith, the initiative builds upon the partners’ history of collaborating and innovation in pursuit of greater institutional integrity in the region.

“Microsoft was the IDB’s first-ever corporate partner and continues to be a critical ally in our quest for innovative solutions to our region’s most urgent, most complex development challenges,” said President Moreno. “As we expand our partnership, we are demonstrating that technology is a fundamental tool for building more transparent societies and helping our governments and citizens access more and better information.”

“I am excited about expanding our partnership with IDB to use creativity, innovation, and technology to address one of humanity’s oldest problems – corruption.” said Microsoft President Brad Smith. “We believe digital technology can work to bring corruption out of the shadows and under the spotlight in a way where it will not survive. By using data and analytics at scale, we can dramatically increase transparency, build better monitoring and flagging systems, and empower enforcers to move more quickly.”

Notably, the IDB-Microsoft partnership produced the landmark InvestmentMap initiative which enables citizens to monitor government spending in real-time through innovative digital platforms. The platforms also provide a user-friendly channel to submit suggestions and comments, including allegations of wrongdoing. All parties can upload images to monitor progress.

In the last three years, 12 countries in the region have formally joined InvestmentMap. Recently, InvestmentMap has been a key tool in the IDB’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. With support from Microsoft, the IDB has developed a COVID-19 information module within the platform in Paraguay that discloses detailed information about the use of public resources to address the emergency. Modules to track coronavirus-related resources are currently being developed in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Ecuador.

In addition, the partners joined everis NTT Data in June to launch Digi/Gob, an e-government solutions platform developed in the Microsoft cloud. Already in its first phase, the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are now able to leverage Digi/Gob to ensure the continuity of administrative procedures and public transactions during COVID-19’s drastic reduction of in-person interactions.