ATAF joined the African Union Commission (AUC) and Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) in Johannesburg for the Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker Stocktaking Meeting, where partners reviewed progress from the Policy Tracker’s pilot phase and explored how assessment findings can be translated into concrete national reforms to combat illicit financial flows.
The Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker is a practical policy assessment tool that enables governments to evaluate existing legal, policy and institutional frameworks, identify gaps and prioritise reforms needed to strengthen national responses to illicit financial flows. To date, six African countries—Namibia, Uganda, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Zambia—have adopted the Tracker, reflecting growing commitment across the continent to strengthening transparency, accountability and domestic resource mobilisation.
Representing the ATAF Executive Secretary, Mr Thulani Shongwe, Head of Member and Multilateral Engagement, highlighted the value of the Policy Tracker in supporting evidence-based policy reforms.
“The significance of the Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker is that it enables governments to identify and assess the policies that are in place, the policies that are missing, and the areas where improvements are needed to combat illicit financial flows,” he said.
By helping countries move beyond policy assessment to implementation, the Policy Tracker supports stronger institutional coordination and enables governments to develop more coherent responses to illicit financial flows while strengthening domestic revenue mobilisation and protecting public resources. As a key technical partner in the development and implementation of the Tracker, ATAF supports participating countries throughout the assessment process and works with partners to help translate findings into practical policy and administrative reforms, while using the results to inform targeted technical assistance.
The discussions also focused on how lessons from the pilot phase can inform the next stage of implementation, supporting participating countries to convert assessment findings into practical reform actions while guiding the future expansion of the Policy Tracker across the continent. The initiative is supported under the Multi-Donor Action on Combating Illicit Financial Flows in Africa (MDA), co-financed by the European Union, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Germany, and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
