Assessing anti-corruption policies of non-governmental organisations
Abstract
Query
Can you provide some guidance on how we can assess the anti-corruption policies of our partners, in particular non-governmental organisations (NGOs)?
Summary
In recent years, NGOs have taken on an ever greater role as implementers of development assistance. It is therefore important that they have a sound anti-corruption policy in place. Such policies should address the threat of corruption and fraud and outline the mechanisms required to combat it. It is recommended that these anti-corruption policies are comprehensive in scope and set out the organisation’s wider corruption risk management system.
While there is no specific assessment framework for anti-corruption policies, there are some key elements that anti-corruption policies should generally include, namely: commitment to zero tolerance of corruption, definitions of corruption, codes of conduct and expected behaviour vis-à-vis corruption, conflict of interest provisions, complaint and whistleblowing mechanisms, transparency mechanisms, sanctions, due diligence processes and an implementation strategy.
Citation
Lindner, S. Assessing anti-corruption policies of non-governmental organisations. U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, CMI, Bergen, Norway (2015) 9 pp. [U4 Expert Answer, 2015: 10]
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