Transcript Africa Forum Presentation

GLOBAL FORUM V
Integrity Systems for Civil Society
Steve Godfrey
Commonwealth Business Council (CBC)
Business Action Against Corruption (BAAC)
with slide input from Sean de Cleene, AICC
Tri-Sector
Strengthening the Integrity Framework
• Government (Constitution, Elections, Oversight
Mechanisms, Separation of Powers, Disclosure
of Interests, Rule of Law)
• Business (Corporate Governance, Corporate
Social Responsibility, Bottom Line)
• Civil Society (Identity, Accountability,
Legitimacy)
Presentation
• TriSector Accountability
• Business Integrity Framework
• Underdeveloped Framework for Civil
Society
• Role on Integrity Frameworks for
Action Against Corruption
What is Corporate Governance?
“An effective system of corporate governance must strive to
channel the self-interest of managers, directors and the
advisors upon whom they rely into alignment with the
corporate, shareholder and public interest.”Ira Millstein
Chairman, Private Sector Advisory Group
Global Corporate Governance Forum
Defining Governance System
• Common Law System
– Fiduciary duty of good faith and loyalty
– Duty of care and skill
• Legislative and Regulatory Framework
• Examines Relationship between:
– Law = principles of prescriptive conduct
– Governance = practice of preferred behaviour
• Sets Value System for THE COMPANY
Listed
Unlisted
Govt. Enterprises
Corporate Governance Framework
Internal
Shareholders
External
Private
Regulatory
Standards
Stakeholders
Board of
Directors
Management
Core Functions
Reputational
Agents
• Accountants
• Lawyers
• Credit Rating
Agencies
• Investment Bankers
• Financial Media
• Investment Advisors
• Research
• Governance
Analysts
• Accounting
• Auditing
• Other
Laws and Regulations
Financial Sector
• Debt
• Equity
Markets
• Competitive factors
• Products and resources
• Foreign direct investment
• Corporate control
FAIRNESS
BUT in South Africa and
through into NEPAD….
RESPONSIBILITY
ACCOUNTABILITY
TRANSPARENCY
Four Primary Pillars
Discipline
Independence
Social Responsibility
BAAC - An African Initiative to Combat
Corruption
DEFINITIONS OF CORRUPTION
• Bottlenecks
– The creation/use or attempt to create/use
bottlenecks in any system for private profit or
personal gain
• Perversions
– The perversion or attempt to pervert the legal or
right process within an entity for private profit or
personal gain
•Establishment of a multisector
Action
business action against corruption taskforce
•Development a code of conduct for Malawi private
sector and state enterprise
•Set up an independent ratings system that will
assess systemic action of companies,
•Move towards a national framework on corruption
that integrates government, business and civil society
The Board of Directors or CEO
shall oversee that all
management and if appropriate
all staff members should sign an
individual contract of agreement
to abide by the policy as set out
by the company.
That each director (both executive and
non-executive) submit signed
attestations, in a public disclosure
statement to the effect they are fully
satisfied that all the organisation’s anticorrupt practices are being followed,
monitored and managed appropriately in
accordance with the code.
Our enterprise shall ensure that
subsidiaries and joint ventures over
which we maintain effective control
adopt their anti-corruption programme
and use our best efforts to monitor that
the conduct of such subsidiaries and
joint ventures is consistent with the
code.
We shall make it mandatory that all
known instances of corruption are
reported to the relevant authorities.
Civil Society Sector
• Vast, heterogeneous, diverse
• Includes service delivery, advocacy,
faith/mission, lobbyist……
• Growth is a challenge to traditional
understanding about the role of NGOs
• Some issues of legitimacy in eyes of
other two stakeholders (govt/business)
Non-Profit Sector
•
Legal framework and public information
• Responsibility - NGOs have an interest in strengthening
the accountability framework within which they operate
and ensuring transparency.
• Accountability - efforts to streamline arrangements for
company registration and reporting need to be matched
for civil society bodies.
• Reciprocity – availability of information on activities,
effectiveness and financial accountability.
• Protection - rights of free association in a democratic
society should not be undermined by authoritarian
measures.
FRAMEWORK
Civil society itself should ensure:
• Principles of corporate governance are applied, with
necessary adjustments, to NGOs;
• Making available through the web information on the
projects and activities they are funding and the evaluations
undertaken on their activities;
• Developing guidelines committing organisations to high
standards of fairness in public debate (including the right
of reply)
• Disclosure on financing and sponsorship, either from the
public, government, or other bodies, as well as the
contribution from membership.
Integrity Frameworks and
Corruption – Why?
• Progress requires multi-stakeholder approach to
create National Frameworks Against Corruption
• Coalitions between Government and civil
service, business, civil society
• National campaigns requires Codes of Conduct
for each sector at their core
• BAAC believes that these must become part of
African benchmarking system on corruption