In an official ceremony hosted in Santo Domingo that was presided over by Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has officially launched a landmark public integrity assessment report, produced in collaborative partnership with the Dominican Republic’s General Directorate of Ethics and Governmental Integrity (DIGEIG). The core mission of this comprehensive study is to systematically map existing progress, identify unaddressed risks, and highlight critical gaps in the country’s current public governance frameworks.
Elsa Pilichowski, OECD Director of Public Governance, used the public event to extend formal recognition to the Dominican Republic for the measurable headway it has made in building robust institutional foundations centered on public sector integrity. She emphasized that the country’s ongoing commitment to strengthening governance aligns with global best practices established by the international community.
The assessment puts forward a targeted set of actionable recommendations designed to reinforce five key pillars of public integrity: more robust protection for whistleblowers who report misconduct, enhanced systems for identifying and mitigating integrity risks across public bodies, stronger investigation and disciplinary sanction mechanisms for violations, greater proactive transparency around government activities, and expanded avenues for direct citizen participation and independent oversight of public administration.
President Abinader reaffirmed the Dominican government’s commitment to implementing reform during his address at the launch. He noted that the OECD’s independent assessment provides a valuable opportunity for domestic public institutions to benchmark their current operational practices against widely accepted international standards, and laid out a clear plan to convert the study’s recommendations into tangible, actionable policy changes across government.
José Ignacio Paliza, Dominican Minister of the Presidency, echoed this commitment, stressing that principles of integrity must be embedded into every level of public administration, from frontline local government services to senior national leadership. He formally pledged full administrative and political support for the full rollout of all recommended reforms outlined in the study.
This new OECD assessment is not a standalone initiative: it forms a core foundational component of the Dominican Republic’s recently launched National Public Integrity Strategy (ENIP) 2026–2036. The 10-year strategy is designed to translate the study’s findings into a structured, long-term national roadmap, complete with clear strategic objectives, concrete implementation measures, defined institutional responsibilities, and measurable accountability indicators to track progress over the coming decade.