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During the few last years, initiatives against corruption have increasingly taken centre stage, involving the public and private sector, non-governmental organizations, the media and the youth.

In the course of UNODC’s ongoing work on probity in public procurement and corporate integrity, stakeholders from the above sectors identified a significant information gap regarding “where” and “whom to” report a corrupt act. Both citizens and professionals felt it was difficult to identify the relevant contact person in a government department – at the national or state level to report an act of corruption. Although numerous anti-corruption and vigilance bodies exist across the country, the information is scattered across multiple platforms within the public domain.  In response to this, the idea rose to consolidate  contact information on anti-corruption and vigilance desks in one platform and make it available to the public.

On 29 May 2014, UNODC launched the National Anti-Corruption Referral of key contacts in vigilance and anti-corruption desks across India’. The referral provides relevant contact information on vigilance desks in a variety of institutions at the national level, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation, Central Vigilance Commission and the Enforcement Directorate. It also covers respective information on government departments in the top twelve service areas which have a high level of interaction with the private sector, including customs, health, highways authorities, credit institutions and land and property registration authorities. The referral is structured by departments and states, containing data from 28 states, 7 union territories and 82 economic centres as well as a total of 25 ministries/government departments. It contains the remarkable number of 10,000 entries.

At the launch, Mr J M Garg, Vigilance Commissioner, Central Vigilance Commission acknowledged the referral as the first of its kind in India. He encouraged the audience to make use of the Referral as it allows to easily find information, make inquiries and report corrupt acts.  

The Referral was compiled after extensive public record research on Ministries and departments at the national and state levels, which showed a high level of engagement with the private sector. Suggestions and inputs were also received from senior Government officials, private and public sector officials through numerous consultative interactions.

The Referral is available electronically at:  http://indiaanticorruptionreferral.com

The National Anti-Corruption Referral was created under the UNODC projects ( i) Public-private partnership in probity in public procurement and (ii) Incentives to Corporate Integrity and Cooperation. Both projects are supported by the Siemens Integrity Initiative.

(This story originally appeared in the UNODC website.)

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For the first time, Tanzania has introduced the UN Global Compact on safeguarding the Tanzanian environment, promote equality, create wealth for local communities, fight corruption, uphold human rights, labour rights and ensuring social inclusion so that Tanzania can bring about sustainable development and promote business ethics.

Tanzania Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) Executive Director Daniel Machemba made this affirmation on Friday when introducing the UN Global Compact organised by the Association of Tanzania Employers and TCCIA with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

During the event, UNDP senior governance advisor Steve Lee said UNDP was ready to support Tanzania and its institutions as it builds and implements the Global Compact.

He said the major goal of the compact was to address corporate social responsibility across the country, noting that the UN Global Compact “is an entry and a base for inculcating and instituting responsible business not only by multinationals and large firms but also small and medium enterprises in their respective settings.”

Read the story by Beatrice Philemon in IPP Media.

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Accra, 3^rd June, 2014 – Formalising the interactions between non-state stakeholders and public agencies for collaborative governance could help in addressing some of the challenging issues in Africa’s extractive industries.

A new book released by the United Nations University-Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) urges leaders in Africa’s extractive industries to institutionalise a governance system that is transparent, inclusive and accountable in order to improve transparency, equity and efficiency in the management of revenues from the industries.

The book, “Collaborative Governance in Extractive Industries in Africa”, calls for the empowerment of community stakeholders by the state, private or international agencies, who are acting as sponsors or leaders of collaborative governance processes.

The book says collaborative governance will promote a common understanding of the environmental and socio-economic challenges associated with the extractive industries. It also suggests that with formalised arrangements, non-state stakeholders could easily have access to relevant information including financial statements, public expenditures and other disbursements without resorting to conflicts.

“Collaborative Governance in Extractive Industries in Africa” advocates improving the knowledge, skills and capacity of these stakeholders to engage in formal, non-violent dispute resolution and decision-making processes. Training of community members especially on issues such as resettlement of displaced communities, mechanisms for payment of compensations, and on the management of environmental impacts of extractive operations could help improve knowledge and understanding of issues of decision making in the industry.

In his foreword to the book, the Rector of the United Nations University, Dr. David M. Malone, encourages African countries to institutionalise and strengthen their governance system in the extractive industries for development. He states, “I am confident that collaborative governance of extractive industries in Africa will contribute to the efforts to use revenues from extractive resources for inclusive growth”.

The book also discusses the challenges in the distribution and the management of mineral and petroleum resources and suggests many other ways of addressing them for sustainable development in Africa. Also, it draws lessons from other countries to help improve the management of the rich resources in Africa. Among the recommendations are the development of guidelines by government agencies for the use of royalties that go to traditional authorities, the strengthening of relevant state institutions, the need for the establishment of a think thank that is devoted to the extractive industries as well as the development of efficient control mechanisms, to mitigate the resource curse on the continent.

Read more in http://accra.sites.unicnetwork.org/files/2014/04/Media-Release-on-Collaborative-Governance-in-Extractive-Industries-Book.pdf

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The State of Democracy Report examines the Chilean democracy in its various dimensions, providing a baseline to assess the gap between the existing norms and legal frameworks with their actual implementation as well as in relation to citizens’ perceptions and expectations.

The report covers the last two decades since Chile return to democracy in 1990 until the present. During this period the country has received wide recognition for advancing a stable and solid electoral democracy and strengthening democratic governance which has allowed economic growth and improved human development of its populations.The report reveals that although elections are periodic, free and the results are widely accepted by the population, these accomplishments are not even when considering all dimensions of democracy. There is increasing citizen dissatisfaction with formal political institutions and public trust in the political parties and Congress has dropped among the highest in Latin America. While 71% of citizens support democracy as the best form of government, only 41% of the people consider that it functions optimally.  The drop of 35 percentile in electoral participation in the 24 years is among the highest in the OECD and the Americas.

The report used the methodology developed by IDEA International´s (State of Democracy Assessments) and UNDP work on Governance Assessments globally and it is structured around three main sections: I) Citizenship, Legislation and Rights; II) Participation and Representation; and III) Governance, the State and Democracy. In this last section, one chapter is dedicated to the issue of public integrity, providing an in-depth assessment of the last two decades. Some of the most relevant findings in this chapter are:

1. Chile is one of the countries better positioned both in Latin America and in the world in regards to low levels of corruption. The report documents vast efforts to strengthen the normative frameworks and institutional capacities to foster public integrity. Some of the key advances are the adoption of the Access to Information Law;  the creation of an autonomous Council for Transparency and  the efforts made to comply with the Inter American Convention against Corruption as well as the United Nations Convention against corruption (UNCAC).
2. On the other hand, the report examined citizens’ perception regarding issues of transparency, access to information, corruption, and integrity, finding that there is a wide gap between the normative framework, formal indicators and people´s opinions: the public’s perception on the prevalence of corruption is much higher than documented incidents.

The chapter on public integrity identifies some of the key challenges that need to be addressed for the country to continue strengthening its institutional capacities on anti-corruption.

Download the report in Spanish at: auditoriaalademocracia.org

Contributed by Marcela Rios and Rocio Noriega, UNDP Chile

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The State of Democracy Report examines the Chilean democracy in its various dimensions, providing a baseline to assess the gap between the existing norms and legal frameworks with their actual implementation as well as in relation to citizens’ perceptions and expectations.

The report covers the last two decades since Chile return to democracy in 1990 until the present. During this period the country has received wide recognition for advancing a stable and solid electoral democracy and strengthening democratic governance which has allowed economic growth and improved human development of its populations.The report reveals that although elections are periodic, free and the results are widely accepted by the population, these accomplishments are not even when considering all dimensions of democracy. There is increasing citizen dissatisfaction with formal political institutions and public trust in the political parties and Congress has dropped among the highest in Latin America. While 71% of citizens support democracy as the best form of government, only 41% of the people consider that it functions optimally.  The drop of 35 percentile in electoral participation in the 24 years is among the highest in the OECD and the Americas.

The report used the methodology developed by IDEA International´s (State of Democracy Assessments) and UNDP work on Governance Assessments globally and it is structured around three main sections: I) Citizenship, Legislation and Rights; II) Participation and Representation; and III) Governance, the State and Democracy. In this last section, one chapter is dedicated to the issue of public integrity, providing an in-depth assessment of the last two decades. Some of the most relevant findings in this chapter are:

1. Chile is one of the countries better positioned both in Latin America and in the world in regards to low levels of corruption. The report documents vast efforts to strengthen the normative frameworks and institutional capacities to foster public integrity. Some of the key advances are the adoption of the Access to Information Law;  the creation of an autonomous Council for Transparency and  the efforts made to comply with the Inter American Convention against Corruption as well as the United Nations Convention against corruption (UNCAC).
2. On the other hand, the report examined citizens’ perception regarding issues of transparency, access to information, corruption, and integrity, finding that there is a wide gap between the normative framework, formal indicators and people´s opinions: the public’s perception on the prevalence of corruption is much higher than documented incidents.

The chapter on public integrity identifies some of the key challenges that need to be addressed for the country to continue strengthening its institutional capacities on anti-corruption.

Download the report in Spanish at: auditoriaalademocracia.org

Contributed by Marcela Rios and Rocio Noriega, UNDP Chile

Read more