2.6 Advancing political integrity through strategic co-operation A perception of widespread corruption in political processes and a lack of public integrity among political officials is often at the core of growing dissatisfaction and frustration in democratic institutions. Recurrent integrity scandals and a perceived lack of transparency and accountability erode the trust of citizens in democracy. A lack of public integrity and corrupt practices also remain a great barrier to building inclusive societies, posing a serious challenge to democratic policymaking, the legitimacy and quality of democratic institutions, and broader civic engagement in the OSCE region. To address these issues, and to advance OSCE commitments to support democratic institutions, accountability and transparency in our democracies, ODIHR developed a strategic partnership in 2019 with Transparency International, a leading civil society organizations in promoting integrity and fighting corruption with national chapters active in more than 25 OSCE participating States. This strategic partnership with Transparency International allowed ODIHR to build capacity and promote dialogue and co-operation on corruption across the OSCE region. A common understanding on the challenges of public integrity issues, ranging from lobbying, through political finance reform, to conflict of interest, was established. This offered both organizations the opportunity to design and put in place joint activities, exchange information, and establish an early-warning mechanism for critical developments in the area of public integrity. 38 DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OSCE Early results of this co-operation came in 2019 through assistance on a number of national legislative reforms in the area of public integrity, which allowed for more effective and sustainable support from ODIHR. These included legal opinions and expert advice to the parliaments of Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia and Switzerland on their political finance reforms, as well as training by ODIHR specialists on these topics. The process also strengthened co-operation with specific national chapters of Transparency International in connection with ODIHR’s election observation work. ODIHR will continue to support OSCE participating States on public integrity matters by expanding its co-operation with Transparency International in the future, as an effective path to more comprehensive and sustainable promotion of democratic reforms across the OSCE region. Numerous joint activities are planned for 2020, including a continuation of last year’s dedicated expert training on money in politics.