The main purpose of this project is to improve the ease of doing business in Mozambique by reducing corruption and broadening ethics management capacity thus advancing organisational integrity. It is envisaged that interventions based on a collective action approach and strengthening business integrity capacity will contribute to reducing corruption in business activities, resulting in enhanced business practices in Mozambique.
The first objective of the project is to improve business integrity awareness through the formation of a Coalition for Organisational Integrity (COI) in Mozambique. This objective will be achieved by securing the support and participation for a coalition by multinational companies. The target audience is thus multinational companies across industries. A vital success element is to host quarterly best practice sharing dialogues, focused on business integrity related topics. An annual business integrity conference will serve as an extended platform for multi-stakeholder engagement. TEI will be fulfilling a key role as tactical planner and provider of the necessary secretariat services to the Coalition. Since the oil, gas and energy sector is a crucial cog in transforming the current precarious state of the Mozambican economy, a sub-forum working group will be convened to stimulate regular anti-corruption and business integrity dialogue within this sector by engaging both public and private sector role-players.
The second objective is aimed at strengthening ethics management capacity of the participants of the COI by training its representatives on institutionalising business integrity. To gain insights as to the existing ethical culture and ethics management maturity, TEI will conduct assessments to determine and measure these elements at the outset and during the project tenure. The assessments will dually serve as a baseline to determine the impact and affirm the theory of change and the success of interventions during the project timeline.
The third objective is focused on the development and implementation of an ethics and anti-corruption training program for small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs), targeting participating COI suppliers, relevant professional associations and the public sector. The ultimate purpose is to develop a network of COI participants who actively engage with suppliers that have attended ethics and anti-corruption training. This could create a business integrity culture, which, in turn, could result in the improvement of integrity in procurement activities between large organisations and their SME suppliers. As a result of the successful investment during the second funding round, the existing group of Mozambican certified ethics officers (Ethics Specialists) will be engaged to facilitate ethics dialogue and interventions in Portuguese, as they are familiar with the local context and issues to be discussed.
In sum, this project aims to establish an effective collective action platform to affect significant change in business conduct, as thought-leaders engage in the sharing of best practices. This could result in improved procurement, stakeholder management and relations between business and the public sector.
Based on TEI’s experience with local government, it was established that ethical challenges at municipal level will not be solved without an intervention on the ethics of political leadership. TEI and relevant national government structures conceptualised an intervention for developing a national code of ethical governance in municipalities. The code should be the outcome of a structured national dialogue and consultation, should have broad societal legitimacy, and should give practical guidance on the ethical intricacies faced by political and administrative leaders in municipalities.
The second objective is the implementation of an Ethically Aware Supplier Induction (EASI) training and accreditation programme that will allow SMEs to be accredited as ‘Ethically Aware Suppliers’. The aim is to create a network of large organisations that are committed to utilising ethically aware suppliers, and a network of trainers who will continue to train suppliers in their organisations resulting in a culture of ethical business and co-accountability escalating across all procurement relationships.
The third objective aims to build capacity in the Gauteng Provincial Government by developing an ethics management monitoring and reporting tool to assist ethics officers structure interventions and improve reporting to oversight structures, both within the municipality and to province. This will ensure external oversight of ethics remains a driver of improved governance.
In South Africa, a group of multinational companies came together to establish a Coalition for Ethical Operations in 2016 and have since actively engaged as supporters of a pledge to do business ethically within Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of the Coalition for Ethical Operations (CEO) is to engage in a program of activities aimed at promoting ethical business and reducing bribery and corruption across Sub-Saharan Africa. The specific objectives are as follows:
- To share best practices on promoting ethics and preventing corruption
- To promote training of SME suppliers on promoting ethics and preventing corruption
- To engage in occasional and voluntary collective/collaborative action
This initiative is funded by voluntary contributions made by Coalition signatories.
TEI has developed an online training module called the Ethically Aware Supplier Induction (EASI) programme. It provides high quality, standardized, practical and engaging training on doing business ethically. The project is currently being implemented in partnership with United Nations Global Compact in Kenya and in Ghana.
The concept is that, after successful completion of the training session (by a senior executive / manager of a SME supplier) a business will be certified as being ‘Ethically Aware’ of relevant issues in business. Good business practice and regulatory compliance require that companies train their suppliers to make them aware of their ethical standards and ensure that they abide by these.
We believe that the positive role that large organisations (frequently multi-national enterprises (MNEs) can play in promoting stronger business ethics practices among their suppliers will be an effective driver of good governance across the continent.
The Ethically Aware Supplier Induction (EASI) program aligns with the supplier codes of conduct of a sample of large companies, as well as with the United Nations Global Compact.
It deals with the following topics:
- Doing business with integrity
- Treating employees fairly
- Impact on society
- Environmental impact
