From 15–17 April, on behalf of the CAPAR Civil Society Network, CiFAR attended the first African Asset Recovery Practitioners Forum in Nairobi. Over 90 delegates from across all African regions — including asset recovery and anti-corruption agencies, financial intelligence units, and other public bodies — gathered to discuss ways to enhance collaboration on asset recovery and to formalize the establishment and governance of the Forum.
The Forum took place under the framework of CAPAR — the African Union’s Common African Position on Asset Recovery. For civil society, it was an important opportunity to connect with this new, promising platform, engage with public officials and international partners, and explore future collaboration. Above all, it was a chance to promote key messages about integrating transparency and accountability into all phases of asset recovery, with particular attention to the management of returned assets and the inclusion of civil society.
The three days of discussions made clear that: (1) momentum for asset recovery is increasing, as is the emphasis on transparency, overcoming obstacles in international cooperation, and ensuring returned assets are properly managed; (2) there is growing political interest and commitment across Africa to use returned assets for the benefit of citizens; and (3) civil society — in all its diverse forms and geographical reach — is increasingly recognized as an important stakeholder and partner in asset recovery processes.
Indeed, civil society across Africa is investing significantly in CAPAR as a policy instrument, the newly established Africa Practitioners Forum, and other regional asset recovery initiatives. But what are the advantages, opportunities, and limitations of these tools?
Clearly, as African countries recover more assets, the topic is receiving increasing attention — seen as a way to mobilize resources, promote justice, and deter future corruption. However, the challenges that come with this are substantial. Managing returned assets is costly, requires capacity, and carries its own risks of further theft. Moreover, international cooperation to advance asset recovery cases remains as lengthy and complicated as it has been for decades.
CAPAR has emerged as a promising tool to help overcome these challenges. It is the first African instrument — and one of the few globally — that explicitly targets asset recovery and the fight against corruption and illicit financial flows. It also contains a wealth of practical recommendations and suggestions, with entire sections dedicated to improving transparency, accountability, and civil society participation.
That said, CAPAR remains a political instrument rather than a legally binding one for African Union member states. According to our assessment, the recommendations of CAPAR are still largely unimplemented by many governments across the continent’. The African Union Advisory Board on Corruption (AU-ABC) is making efforts to promote it in different forums — such as the one we attended in Nairobi — but progress is slow (see reports our partners published in 2024 on CAPAR implementation). Cooperation on anti-corruption across Africa is also hindered by familiar obstacles in international cooperation: limited capacity and resources, language barriers, differing legal systems, insufficient political will, and political interference. Experiences and efforts vary greatly, with some countries still very much behind or isolated, and others leading Africa-wide anti-corruption initiatives.
Civil society’s role in asset recovery and tackling illicit financial flows is also becoming more important and better recognized — as demonstrated by the work of the CAPAR Civil Society Network: its members are leveraging CAPAR to advocate for reforms to asset recovery frameworks at the national level, engaging with governments to implement CAPAR commitments. The Network also promotes collaboration with regional public-sector initiatives — including the AU-ABC, Asset Recovery Interagency Networks (ARINs), and FATF-style regional bodies working on anti-money-laundering — to enhance coordination. Despite some progress, much more is needed. Even as small steps are taken to improve asset recovery, loopholes in the global financial system continue to widen, political shifts in the Global North move further away from decades-long anti-corruption efforts, and kleptocrats and other criminals continue to profit. In this context, Africa’s voice — across both public and civil society — in championing anti-corruption and asset recovery is more vital