2023 OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum
Knowledge Session: “Leveraging Machine Learning to Strengthen Integrity in Climate Finance”

25 May 2023, 4:00-5:00 Paris Time
OECD Conference Centre (La Muette), Paris

This session will explore the application of machine learning and intelligent automation in identifying potential integrity vulnerabilities, accountability gaps, and other risks in climate projects. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) and CivicDataLab will delve into this realm of technical innovations and its profound impact on risk mitigation, funding decisions, and the prevention of prohibited practices like fraud and corruption within climate projects. The GCF will reflect on how it is capitalizing on innovations to develop machine learning modules to identify integrity risks, and a use case of how practitioners are applying these to critical infrastructure sectors in Jamaica. CivicDataLab will discuss how they are applying these innovations to enable data-driven decision-making at scale in climate-related projects in India.

Presenters
 

Albert Lihalakha

Head of the Independent Integrity Unit, a.i.
Green Climate Fund

Albert Lihalakha Head, a.i of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Independent Integrity Unit, has more than 15 years of international experience in public and private sectors. He has long reinforced integrity values and bolstered ethical practices in business conduct across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North America. 
 
At the GCF, Albert has transformed the effectiveness of investigative responses and instituted mechanisms that mitigate integrity risks while supporting stakeholders.
 
Before joining the Fund, Albert worked in a senior capacity at Saudi Aramco's specialized security and investigations division. He served as principal forensic officer at the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Department of the African Development Bank, investigating sanctionable practices. In the U.S., Albert assisted organizations in a security services firm and was a manager at KPMG's Risk Consulting practice.
 
He is a certified fraud examiner and holds a master's degree in international criminal law and justice and a Master of Science in information systems.

Gaurav Godhwani

Executive Director & Co-Founder
CivicDataLab

Gaurav Godhwani is co-founder and executive director at CivicDataLab - a research lab harnessing data, tech, design and social science to strengthen access to information and enhance civic engagements in India & other Asian countries.

He works to leverage the open-source movement to enable citizens in engaging better with public reforms. He works closely with several government agencies, civil society organizations, think-tanks, media houses and universities to enable data-driven decision-making at scale. He has been instrumental in starting data for public good initiatives in India like - DataKind Bangalore, Open Budgets India, Justice Hub & Open Contracting India. Currently, he is focused to grow open data led innovations in sectors like Climate Change Adaptation, Public Finance, Public Procurement, Law & Justice, Urban Planning and more.

Liam O'Dea

Lead Data Consultant
Independent Integrity Unit
Green Climate Fund

Liam O'Dea is a data engineer and data scientist with experience managing software engineering teams in fintech companies.

A graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Seoul National University and the University of London (SOAS), Liam built the infrastructure, services and machine learning models that comprise the Integrity Due Diligence Platform (IDDP) of the GCF Independent Integrity Unit (IIU).

Liam is responsible for discovering a fundamental relationship among financial instruments and integrity risk ratings, the subject of a forthcoming IIU paper.

Lilian Macharia

Director of Portfolio Management
Green Climate Fund

Lilian Macharia is the Director of the Division of Portfolio Management at the Green Climate Fund (GCF). She is a Kenyan national with over 24 years of experience designing, structuring, and managing complex public and private financial sector investments across Africa. Her experience also includes microfinance and civil society.

Since joining the GCF, Lilian has led and contributed to setting up portfolio monitoring and management systems and oversight on implementing GCF's portfolio. Before joining GCF, Lilian served for over 11 years with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and represented the AfDB in various investee company boards.