Mission

Launch and implement anti-corruption Collective Action initiatives in five countries through Global Compact Local Networks

Goals

This project aimed to establish a high-impact anti-corruption Collective Action platform in five countries – Brazil, Egypt, India, Nigeria, and South Africa. By facilitating ongoing dialogue between the private and public sector, this project provided a wide variety of stakeholders in these five countries with an opportunity to explore how specific Collective Action initiatives can create incentives for ethical business conduct, and to discuss areas for further improvement.

In so doing, the project aimed to scale up existing anti-corruption efforts in the target countries, and provide participants with knowledge, skills, strategies and resources to promote ethical practices and transparency in business operations, within each country, and in international cross-sectoral relations.

The project emphasized the role of local actors in each of the target countries, engaging and building capacity of local stakeholders who are faced with corruption in their routine transactions and business relationships.

Stakeholders

Through its local networks the UN Global Compact engaged with various partners in the target countries, including Instituto Ethos in Brazil, the Egyptian Junior Business Association, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the National Business Initiative (NBI) in South Africa.

Activities

In Brazil, the Global Compact Network and Instituto Ethos developed two sectorial agreements for health care equipment producers, and for sport sponsors and sport entities. More than 100 companies from the health sector and 17 companies sponsoring sport events, equivalent to 550 million Brazilian Reals in annual investments, signed the agreements. A number of guidance documents were developed, including on ‘Fighting Corruption in Sport Sponsorship and Sport Related Hospitalities: A Practical guide for Companies‘ and the booklet ‘Jogo Limpo x Jogo Sujo‘.

In Egypt, the project delivered multi-stakeholder workshops to discuss corruption challenges within the Egyptian business environment and to identify areas for priority action. 18 SMEs and six large companies signed the Integrity Pledge developed by the Egyptian Junior Business Association and implemented the first phase of the pledge by attending senior management trainings, drafting anti-corruption policies and appointing compliance managers with the necessary skills, time and resources to oversee the implementation of the pledge. A Guidance Manual for Implementing the Integrity Pledge was also developed. The project further focused on awareness raising activities, including a conference on ‘Integrity in Business: Tackling Corruption Challenges in Egypt‘, held in Alexandria in 2014.

In India, the project focused on raising awareness about anti-corruption Collective Action, conducting public-private dialogue on specific anti-corruption topics as well as facilitating knowledge sharing between private companies. The project also developed three publications: ‘Raising the Bar Through Collective Action: Anti-Corruption Efforts in India’, ‘Business Case for Anti-Corruption in India: Principles, Economics and Application of Transparency Tools’, and ‘Understanding the Demand and Supply Equations of Corruption and Fraud’.

In Nigeria, the project engaged in various awareness raising activities, including the organisation of major conferences on ‘Openness and Transparency as Stakeholder Commitment against Corruption’ in 2012 and on ‘Supply Chain Transparency and Business Sustainability’ in 2014. In 2015, the Africa Sustainable CEO Business Roundtable Forum brought together many of Africa’s chief executives and leaders in business, government and civil society to discuss how Collective Action efforts can drive the new development agenda for Africa, including in key areas such as good governance, youth employment and empowerment, infrastructure, peace and security. Several national workshops and seminars to build capacity of businesses to address corruption were delivered. The ‘Report on Anti-Corruption and Good Governance Efforts in Nigeria’ was used as a key tool in anti-corruption trainings for the public and private sector.

In South Africa, the project collected 14 case studies from different companies showcasing the implementation of anti-corruption measures and different challenges as well as risk areas in South Africa. The case studies were published in “Mainstreaming Integrity in Business Practice: Company Case Studies on Anti-Corruption in South Africa”. The project also focused on awareness raising on integrity pacts to enhance transparency in public procurement and established contacts to the National Treasury as well as key actors in the construction sector.