First Digital Integrity Week in Latin America

30.04.2020

Latin America, Online

First Digital Integrity Week in Latin America

In the last week of April, the Alliance for Integrity held its annual Integrity Week in Latin America. Originally, Paraguay was chosen as venue for this year's edition. However, due to the ongoing outbreak of Covid-19, all planned activities were converted into a digital format and carried out online. The aim of the Integrity Week is to bring together relevant stakeholders from different sectors to develop practical solutions, share knowledge and spread good practices regarding business integrity. During the week, the Alliance for Integrity together with its partners organises various events for different target-groups focusing on central issues of corruption prevention. The highlight of each year’s events is the regional conference, which is also open to the general public.

The Integrity Week officially started on 23 April with a meeting of the Regional Working Group Latin America. The members decided to adopt the slogan ‘Aliados por la Integridad’ (‘Allies for Integrity’) as the official name and motto of the group. Under the hashtag of the same name, their latest activities can be followed on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Afterwards, the members received an update on the results of the survey conducted by the Alliance for Integrity among network members with a focus on the current global economic context. The group will focus efforts on three key issues that emerged from the survey:

  • Integrity in Procurement and Due Diligence; 
  • Behavioural Compliance: New Ethical Dilemmas in Times of Covid-19; 
  • How to Maintain Integrity and Compliance as Priorities for the Company and Value Chain in Times of Crisis?

Three sub-groups have been set up to further work on the identified issues and will start their activities in the next weeks. The objective is to develop guidelines with practical recommendations for companies, webinars and dialogue tables that can be made available to the general public.

The event was followed by the meeting of implementation partners on 27 April. On this occasion, the partners from Ecuador, where the Alliance for Integrity has started activities in 2019, were officially welcomed to the initiative. In addition, the session provided an opportunity for all stakeholders to exchange experiences and to get informed about the new implementation guide for DEPE (‘De Empresas Para Empresas’) business integrity trainings.

The Vision 2025 developed by the Alliance for Integrity’s Steering Committee was also briefly presented and explained to the partners. The Vision forms the basis and orientation for all future activities and can be read in greater detail here.

The traditional highlight of the Integrity Week, the regional conference, took place the following day in form of a webinar. The topic of this year's event was adapted to the current situation titled "Integrity as a value to overcome times of crisis: How to transform challenges into opportunities for your business?" The webinar was recorded and is available as video file (in Spanish language) on our YouTube channel. Further information on the speakers and discussions can be found in a separate website article.

The Integrity Week ended with the meeting of DEPE trainers in Latin America on 29 April. Susanne Friedrich, Director of the initiative, opened the meeting and thanked all trainers for their continuous efforts to create a level playing field with equal opportunities for all. The importance of the event was underlined by the participation of Thomas Cieslik, representative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). In his speech he highlighted the large number of activities in the region and awarded the Trainers of the Year. The award recognises the compliance experts that have conducted the most DEPE trainings within the past twelve months. Later, the trainers received an overview of the planned activities of the Alliance for Integrity on gender-related issues, such as past experiences worldwide.

This is currently a major focus of the initiative with activities already ongoing in Mexico (Integrity Coffee), India (Integri-Tea), Indonesia (Online exchange between female entrepreneurs from Indonesia and Argentina) and Ghana (WISE series), and many others planned for the upcoming months. Closing the meeting, Angélica González, CEO of the Responsible Business Boutique, deliviered an online workshop on "Compliance with a Gender Perspective". The workshop was very well received and was considered a great opportunity for DEPE trainers who want to support and enhance the upcoming activities on gender and anti-corruption.

Author: Fernando Orn

 

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