TI has been dedicated to the fight against corruption since its foundation in 1993. The basic principles of TI's anti-corruption struggle have been defined from the start: coalition building, proceeding incrementally, and remaining non-confrontational.

What does this mean? TI believes that keeping corruption in check is only feasible if representatives from government, business and civil society work together and agree on a set of standards and procedures they all support. TI also believes that corruption cannot be rooted out in one big sweep. Rather, fighting it is a step-by-step, project-by-project process. Finally, TI's non-confrontational approach is necessary to get all relevant parties to the table. It is TI's goal to define and introduce strategies and mechanisms that make corrupt practices if not impossible, at least unlikely and punishable, both on the national as well as on the international level.

Raising public awareness of the problem, stressing that corruption is a problem that can be tackled and that it is not a given fact of life, is the first step in this direction. That is why TI has begun by collecting, analysing and distributing information on the subject. The anti-corruption strategies and tools subsequently developed are described in detail in the Source Book, complemented by an extensive collection of practical examples for their application. The Source Book is available online as well as in print. A collection of civil society experiences and emerging strategies in countering corruption are also available in the Corruption Fighters' Tool Kit, available both on the web and in CD-ROM format.

More than 90 national chapters (NCs) are working on strengthening integrity and transparency in their respective countries and regions. The Berlin-based secretariat (TI-S) supports the national chapters in their work and presses international bodies such as the OECD and OAS to draft international anti-corruption legislation. TI then monitors the implementation of the legislation on a country-by-country basis. TI activities around the world and in the Secretariat can be divided into awareness raising, information management, monitoring of the public and private sector, campaigning work for anti-corruption legislation, and project work.

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