"Corruption ... slows economic development by discouraging foreign investment and inflating costs for local businesses". During his opening remarks at the Signing of the Cooperation Agreement between the United Nations and the International Anti-Corruption Academy, the Executive Director of UNODC Mr. Fedotov underlined how corruption practices have devastating consequences on businesses and markets.
The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the only globally binding legal instrument. Its implementation is currently under review and non state actors participation is encouraged.
Training for Small and Medium Enterprises, provided by Ghana Integrity Initiative, Fall 2012 |
To effectively contribute to the global effort in tackling corruption and its effects on the economic and social environments, UNODC has launched a second round of its small grants scheme for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from Africa with the aim to encourage initiatives to involve the private sector, and in particular small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to contribute to the UNCAC review mechanism.
Following the positive results from the first grants, achieved through awareness-raising initiatives among SMEs, monitoring programmes, and capacity-building projects, a call for a second round of small grants was launched and the call for proposal is now closed.