Mission

Improve levels of integrity and transparency in the energy sector in Argentina and strengthening the competitiveness and sustainability of SMEs and public companies in the sector

Goals

Virtuous Alliance ('Círculos Virtuosos') is a Collective Action that aims at improving levels of integrity and transparency in the energy sector in Argentina and strengthening the competitiveness and sustainability of SMEs and public companies in the sector.

The initiaitve's main objectives are to:

• Raise awareness on the importance of integrity as a condition for improving competitiveness in the energy sector in Argentina..
• Strengthen SMEs and public companies' capacity to respond to corruption risk by integrating and elevating compliance standards, fostering a culture of integrity.
• Promote greater participation of SMEs in public procurement and contracting processes.

Stakeholders

Virtuous Alliance is an initiative of Poder Ciudadano, the national chapter of Transparency Internaitonal in Argentina.

Energy sector companies are the main beneficiaries of the initiative. They can benefit from the resources and tools developed by the initiative to strengthen their integrity programmes.

Several industry and professional associations and Chambers of Commberce are invoved in the initiative, including the Association of Electric Power Distributors (ADEERA), the Association of Electrical Energy Generators (AGEERA), the Argentine Chamber of Commerce and Services, the Argentine Chamber of Renewable Energies (CADER), the Argentine-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce as well as the Argetinian Association for Ethics and Compliance.

Other civil society members include Fundación Potenciar - an NGO dedicated to channeling the social responsibility of companies, and Fundación Avina - an NGO promoting sustainable development.

The Universidad del Aconcagua represents academia in the alliance.

Activities

The initiative contributes to its goal through the following activities:

• Providing a space for dialogue and colaboration to identify and mitigate corruption risks in the energy industry.

• Developing knowledge and tools on integrity in the energy sector.

• Training and supporting companies in the sector, so that they can adapt their approach to current legal obligations and access good practices and international standards in compliance.

• Advocating for public policies aimed at generating greater competitiveness of SMEs in public procurement processes.

For instance, in 2021, the initiative produced two important reports on integrity and transparency in private companies and SOEs in the energy sector in Argentina. These reports cover how energy companies in Argentina have adapted their internal policies and structures to international standards and legislation on business integrity and transparency.

The initiative developed toolbox on how to implement an integrity programme including resources on policy commitment, risk assessment, design and implementation, communcation and training, monitoring and evaluation. The toolbox also includes a self-assessment tool for integrity programmes, that allows SMEs and public companies to identify opportunities for improvement and draw up a roadmap to align their programmes with international best practice. An eLearning course on "Integrity Tools for SMEs and Public Companies in the Energy Sector" as well as in-person training workshops are also offered by the initiative.