News & Blog

This case study and Q&A looks at a recent UK Business Integrity Initiative-funded project in Ghana to create and implement 10 service delivery charters for government licensing and approval authorities through a Collective Action approach. The project was carried out by the Ghana Integrity Initiative, which is the local chapter of Transparency International, in collaboration with the Private Enterprise Federation. What is th

In this short video, Gabriel Cifuentes, former Secretary of Transparency in the Office of the President in Colombia, talks about his experience in implementing the second High Level Reporting Mechanism (HLRM) to ensure a clean procurement process for the construction of the Bogotá Metro. Developed by the Basel Institute on Governance, OECD and Transpa

How effectively does the Business 20 (B20) process channel recommendations on anti-corruption from the business community up to the Group of Twenty (G20) leaders? Are there ways to increase the uptake of B20 recommendations by the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) and in the final Communiqué at the G20 Summit? The hundreds of business representatives that take part in B20 process each year, including in its anti-corruption workstreams, are keen to know the answers to those questions. Sim

The Basel Institute’s Collective Action team has facilitated the co-development of a set of indicators that health care companies may wish to consider when reporting on the effectiveness of their anti-corruption efforts to external stakeholders. The guidance note containing the indicators was developed over seven months by a group of health care companies under an innovati

Oil, Gas & Energy Law (OGEL) has just published a detailed paper I wrote on Anti-Corruption Disclosure in the Oil and Gas Industry: Challenges and Opportunities for Collective Action. The oil and gas industry is particularly affected by the evolving regulatory landscape and growing jigsaw of standards and guidelines focusing on non-financial (extra-financial) reporting. But many other indu

As aid, donations and recovery packages are deployed to cope with the pandemic, the risk of corruption is surging in many countries. Funds for emergency healthcare procurements are flooding in. These fast procurement processes often have limited corruption prevention measures in place and therefore present an increased risk for both governments and businesses. In his recent publication “[It’s Only the Beginning: COVID-19, Public Procurement, and Corruption](https://www.paulhastings.com/publicat

A guest blog by William Loo, Senior Legal Analyst and Deputy Head of the OECD Anti-Corruption Division and Elisabeth Danon, Legal Analyst at the OECD Anti-Corruption Division. The OECD has released a new study on the ingredients for a successful High-Level Reporting Mechanism (HLRM). HLRMs were designed in 2012 by the Basel Institute on Governance, Tr

Our Collective Action team has launched a new online resource on local certification initiatives aimed at making third-party due diligence quicker, easier and more effective for companies large and small. It contains the initial findings of an ongoing research project funded by the KBA-NotaSys Integrity Fund. The project explores how local certification

Our Collective Action team has just published some of the latest thinking on anti-corruption Collective Action. The online resource is aimed primarily at practitioners that are leading Collective Action initiatives to decrease corruption and increase business integrity in specific contexts. It is also eye-opening for anyone seeking to understand how Collective Action works in practice. The ideas, insights and inspirin

Representatives from nine leading Collective Action initiatives that offer local anti-corruption compliance certification gathered yesterday at a virtual roundtable. The event was part of a wider Basel Institute’s project on certification initiatives funded by the KBA-NotaSys Integrity Fund. The idea is to support local certification of anti-corruption compliance programmes in particular in small and medium-sized enterprise

Our Collective Action team is working with companies to find synergies in human rights and anti-corruption compliance. The idea: Companies invest significant resources in anti-corruption and human rights compliance programmes, often developing them separately. We believe there are synergies between these areas that will contribute to the effectiveness and cost efficiencies of both programmes. The proposal: We are convening and facilitating a

At a high-level B20 panel on “Enhancing Integrity for Responsible and Inclusive Growth” on 24 August, Gemma Aiolfi, the Basel Institute’s Head of Compliance, Corporate Governance and Collective Action, discussed how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been forced to focus on survival in recent months. Companies that do manage to survive the pandemic lockdowns and economic fallout, she said, are likely to be looking for new markets and new customers. They may have to adapt to new ways

The University of Basel’s Law Faculty will host a virtual Basel Gold Day on Friday, 9 October from 14:00–16:15. Led by Mark Pieth, Professor of Criminal Law and President of the Basel Institute on Governance, the workshop will gather gold industry leaders and experts to explore “How to obtain clean gold: the consumer perspective”. The event responds to growing public disquiet about environmental and human rights violations in gold supply chains. Some of these issues were highlighted in a 2019

Where corruption is already rampant, a crisis makes it worse. There are flash floods of relief money landing in contexts where power is imbalanced, governance is weak and criminals already know how to game the system. But we can fight back by making anti-corruption an integral part of crisis relief efforts. Like emergencies in the past, the covid-19 pandemic demonstrates that anti-corruption is not just a nice-to-have but can really save lives. This was the gist of a recent presentation I gave

Our Head of Compliance and Collective Action Gemma Aiolfi has turned her decades of experience in anti-corruption compliance and corporate governance into a practical guide for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Published this July by Edward Elgar, the book offers step-by-step guidance to small and mid-sized companies and non-profit organizations in managing corruption risks in overseas markets. It covers how and why to build a culture of integrity, develop a risk-based anti-corruption

I recently spoke about Collective Action as part of a virtual panel discussion along with Andrey Tsyganov, Deputy Minister of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service, on the topic of New Russian Antimonopoly Regulations. The webinar was organised by the Russian Business Ethics Network and The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research, and is [available on YouTube here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGKLYPDGz

The success of the Construction Transparency Initiative (CoST) in Malawi shows the impact Collective Action can have on addressing corruption and levelling the playing field even in difficult environments. But it needs perseverance, leadership and systematic efforts to drive policy change, as our interview below with Joe Chingani, Chairperson of CoST Malawi, demonstrates. First, some background. The costs of corruption in infrastructure projects Public infrastructure proj

In this article, Juhani Grossmann, IWT Team Leader at the Basel Institute on Governance, explores the role of public-private partnerships in tackling illegal wildlife trade (IWT). This is the second article in our short series of perspectives on IWT and financial crime, in collaboration with the International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators. White elephant or panacea? Public-private partnerships and their role in wildlife protection

Gemma Aiolfi, Head of Compliance and Collective Action, will explore some thorny areas of anti-corruption and human rights risk assessment and compliance during a forthcoming virtual “pre-evening dialogue” of the UN Global Compact Network in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The focus is on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with limited resources to address due diligence, and more broadly compliance risks. The topic, though, is relevant to all companies who need to address both corruption

The recently published Global Mapping of Anti-Corruption Authorities fills a critical gap in information about national anti-corruption authorities (ACAs) around the world. ACAs are key institutions to prevent and combat corruption, but until now centralised data on their mandates, activities and even existence has been lacking. The survey is a project of the French Anti-Corruption Agency ([AFA](https://www.agence-francai

The global disruption from covid-19 to health and economic systems has magnified risks to preserving business integrity that will have longstanding impact. As a result, the pandemic is drawing significant attention to several of the world’s largest Collective Action initiatives that are reinforcing ethical business conduct in healthcare. The timing and actions of these initiatives could not be more critical in our crisis recovery efforts. Health sector challenges and their implications for i

Integrity risks for businesses trading overseas have shot up due to the pandemic. Anti-corruption and human rights compliance approaches designed to protect companies during “business as usual” can come under strain in these unusual circumstances. How can companies – especially smaller companies with limited resources – protect themselves from integrity risks in these times of crisis? There are no easy answers, but it’s important to talk about the questions. Gemma Aiolfi, the Basel Institute’s

In this short interview, Susanne Friedrich, Director of the Alliance for Integrity, offers her insights into the current challenges faced by SMEs and how Collective Action can help them emerge stronger on the other side. What challenges are SMEs facing right now related to integrity and compliance? SMEs around the globe are facing considerable uncertainty and economic pressure as demand is down and supply chains are disrupted. Many countries have sta

The Banknote Ethics Initiative (BnEI) has made great strides since 2013 in promoting the highest standards of integrity and fair competition in the banknote sector. Now it’s one of the first business-led initiatives to promote Integrity Pacts as a tool to safeguard banknote-related procurement from corruption risks. The high level of confidentiality needed in this sector adds an extra challenge to the mix. The BnEI’s Chairman, Antti Heinonen, gives a short insight into t

The Basel Institute on Governance is delighted to announce it has recently become an affiliated partner to the Network of Corruption Prevention Authorities (NCPA). The NCPA Network was launched in 2018 to address the need for cooperation between anti-corruption authorities at the operational level. The size, powers, activities and visibility of anti-corruption authorities around the world varies greatly. In some cases, they play a major role

Can Integrity Pacts stop corruption in Covid-19 procurement? What do they look like? How do they increase trust between governments, companies and citizens? How much money can they save in public tenders? Where have Integrity Pacts been used and what were the results? The Basel Institute has launched a free online resource with hands-on guidance on these and other common questions around the how, what, where, when and why of Integrity Pacts. Find it at [integritypacts.baselgovernance.org](https

The UK government’s British Integrity Initiative has announced that from now until the end of July, the Department for International Development will cover the full cost of the Basel Institute’s integrity guidance services for eligible small- and medium-sized businesses. Companies currently benefiting from the programme, which until now has been subsidised by 60–80 percent depending on the company’s size, will also see their fees waived. As our partners in the British Integrity Initiative reco

One of our two submissions to the UN General Assembly Special Session against Corruption 2021 concerns private-sector engagement in the fight against corruption through anti-corruption Collective Action. Our recommendation UN Member States should put measures in place to promote the inclusion of anti-corruption Collective Action by the private sector as part of a risk-based approach to prevent corruption (in line with Article 5, UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)). The reasons

Governments are already contemplating life after lockdown and are keen to permit as many businesses as possible to resume operations, ramp up global trade once more, and to galvanise their economies as best they can - even as forecasts about global recession get bleaker by the day. As economic activity resumes, what will be the effects of the pandemic on the health and well-being of corporate integrity standards and anti-corruption compliance? What support will companies need or want in the pos

The agility that we pride ourselves on at the Basel Institute is often tested, not least by political turbulence in our partner countries. Beyond its implications for society and its catastrophic impact on victims and health systems, the coronavirus pandemic is the biggest test for us so far. We know we are anything but alone in this, and – as with corruption – it is clear we can only come out of this in a good way if we share our experiences and help each other. In this spirit, we wanted to gi