THE ALLIANCE FOR INTEGRITY’S ADVISORY GROUP IN INDIA MEETS FOR THE 3RD TIME IN 2021

On 27 August 2021, the Alliance for Integrity in India held its 3rd Advisory Group (AG) meeting in the country. The meeting focused on strategizing and planning future actions, widening outreach, collaboration, enhancing visibility and portfolio development of the initiative through its various activities in the region.

The meeting was attended by 13 members including the Chair Mr. Rajesh Chitre form Merck India, Vice-Chair Mr. Dinesh Agrawal, Independent Consultant & Ms. Shabnam Siddiqui-Director, UNGC India Networks and Ms. Susanne Friedrich, Director of the Alliance for Integrity. During the meeting, Ms. Viola Koendgen, Regional Manager for Asia at the Alliance for Integrity, was welcomed by all members, as she attended this meeting for the first time.

The session was opened by the Chair, Mr. Rajesh Chitre, who welcomed all members and encouraged them to continue their support with renewed vigour to ramp up its outreach to larger business communities, allowing the initiative to expand and spread the culture of integrity within the business eco-system in the region. Following on, Ms. Susanne Friedrich emphasized the importance on taking on every opportunity in widening the project’s network and expanding its scope of work to different areas. She highlighted that focussing on partnerships and collaborating with various actors to spread the word of compliance in a post covid business world will strengthen the Alliance for Integrity’s pillars and foundations.

Following the input from Ms. Friedrich, updates were given to the AG members regarding recent activities within India and globally as well as the prioritised goals for the coming years. The discussion brought out many new ideas, using the digital space for broader discussion and exchange both within and outside the country. The members agreed that the focused approach of the project in India will be more effective both to the supporters and users: Gender & Corruption, Collective Action, ways of Public Sector engagement and Sector specific approaches, including Businesses and Human Rights Due Diligence targeting larger groups and business communities. Human Rights and Due Diligence has become an interesting topic for businesses, especially for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as the European Union intends to introduce new laws and regulations to address the issues in Global Supply Chains.

To expand discussions beyond the scope of the topics surrounded, it was considered crucial to have social, environmental and governance dimensions as part of the overall objective for the sustainability model of the initiative. The idea of exploring opportunities to include wider compliance topics such as Money Laundering and Trade Compliance to build a stronger impact for ethical business culture was also welcomed. Collaboration and partnership with the right partners such as the National Institute for Transforming India - NITI Aayog, were other highlighted topics, where members discussed ideas and exchanged experiences on available tools aiding the implementation of Vyapaar Se Vyapaar Ko, the Business Integrity Trainings of the Alliance for Integrity in the Indian region.

The session provided an opportunity to discuss different approaches to the sustainability model, where the Chair and Vice Chairs provided details of the governance and financial structure being discussed at the Steering Committee level. After this, the discussion was ensued on how this structure would look like and work in India: The independent structure and its hierarchy, the funding options, identifying and developing business proposals and the need for overviewing the whole process. Based on the needs for the sustainability plan, members formed a Transition Task Force to look after the overall transition period. Members of the Task Force will be providing recommendations & suggestions on areas of improvement during the transition phase of the project.

Closing the meeting, the AG members had a forward discussion to help shape the initiative in the future and assist in capitalizing and responding to trends such as digitalization and the needs of businesses post Covid. The broad consensus among the Advisory Group members is an important pillar for continuously strengthening the project’s tools. The Alliance for Integrity is committed to promote and achieve an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable eco-system for developing a level playing field for the SMEs.

Author: Savita Singh