Mission

Enhance integrity in the private sector in Arab countries

Goals

The UNODC project on “Strengthening the private sector capacity to prevent corruption and enhance integrity in the Arab Countries” aims to reduce opportunities for corruption in in Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates by:

• Strengthening anti-corruption legal frameworks;
• Fostering public-private sector dialogue;
• Building private sector capacity to enhance business integrity.

For this purpose, UNODC supports the development of anti-corruption, ethics and compliance programmes for companies and assists countries to undertake legislative improvements with regard to combating corruption in the private sector.

Stakeholders

The project is implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) with funding from the Siemens Integrity Initiative.

Activities

Key achievements include:

• 96 representatives from Iraqi government, banks, and SMEs increased their knowledge about ethical commitment in the private sector through anti-corruption and business integrity workshops in Baghdad.
• 283 participants from different government entities and SMEs have participated in capacity building activities on preventing corruption and enhancing integrity measures or in public/private dialogue events.
• An online corruption risk assessment tool was developed to enable SMEs in the MENA region to assess corruption risks and adopt mitigating measures. The tool helps SMEs make first steps in developing internal compliance programmes.
• 24 training workshops were conducted across six countries for 450 participants from SMEs, business federations, unions and government authorities on enhancing anti-corruption and business integrity measures in the private sector.
  Two legal assessment studies have been developed in Iraq and Morocco respectively, with clear recommendations for the government to address the legislative gaps and take further action to combat corruption.