Promoting innovative approaches to business ethics and integrity in Pakistan 

UNODC’s Global Integrity Education Project kicks-off with the first working group discussion in Lahore

14 March 2020, Lahore - The private sector and education systems play a crucial role in the anti-corruption efforts of the state. UNODC, under the new Siemens-funded Global Integrity Education Project brings together business and academia to develop and implement an innovative integrity education programme in universities and companies. The ultimate goal of this project is to foster ethical decision-making in the private sector by equipping young graduates with ethical mindsets and skills to work as ‘ethics ambassadors’ at the start of their career.

The 3-year project is concurrently implemented in Pakistan, Kenya and Mexico to inform and sensitise a global audience of educators and practitioners on lessons and best practices in business ethics, integrity and anti-corruption. The project’s most innovative aspects are integrity education modules co-created by academics and private sector practitioners; student-focused teaching methods; and graduates who join the private sector as key ethics players.

In Pakistan, UNODC’s Criminal Justice and Legal Reforms Sub-Programme-II has joined hands with other academic institutions and private health, energy, finance, engineering, insurance and law firms to implement the UNODC’s Global Integrity Education Project funded by Siemens Integrity Initiative. This is the first-ever initiative in Pakistan that brings together academia, university educators, private sector practitioners and UNODC to address the most pressing need of promoting ethics, integrity and anti-corruption practices in the contemporary business environments.

The first Working Group Meeting organised by UNODC COPAK carried out a soft launch of the project on 14 March 2020 in a consultation hosted at LUMS in Lahore. The Working Group will collaborate towards identifying gaps related to ethics and integrity to prioritise and customise a selection of learning modules from the global curriculum developed by UNODC with the objective to tailor them in the specific context of Pakistan.

The Working Group Meeting was jointly moderated by Sigall Horovitz from the UNODC’s global team in Vienna and UNODC COPAK team within Pakistan. The participants of the group were briefed about the background, objectives and implementation approach of the Project. A baseline survey is also being implemented as part of the project to understand and map the key issues faced by the corporate sector in the implementation of ethical business practices.

The Working Group discussed key integrity challengesin the private sector in Pakistan and how existing university curricula are preparing students to face these challenges. In view of the current problems, the Working Group will select four modules in integrity, ethics and anti-corruption from the 24 UNODC modules to contextualise and implement in Pakistan.

The Global Integrity Education Project will continue to engage the students after graduation and empower them to serve as ethics ambassadors at their workplaces, especially in industries that are vulnerable to corruption, demonstrating that education can generate a positive impact on business integrity by supporting the next generation of employees.

 

The Global Integrity Education Project is supported by the Siemens Integrity Initiative.