Funding will be provided
to projects that are committed to joining forces in order to fight corruption
under the “Collective Action” banner. Collective Action plays a key role in
ensuring clean business and fair competition and is attracting more and more dedicated
supporters.The Siemens
Integrity Initiative is part of the July 2009 settlement between Siemens and
the World Bank and the March 2013 settlement between Siemens and the European
Investment Bank (EIB).
A total of eight additional
projects will receive between US$1 million and US$4 million each over a
period of three years. Building
on the Third Funding Round launched in 2018, and taking into account the
application and selection criteria published at
siemens.com/integrity-initiative, a selection of shortlisted candidates
were invited in December 2020 to apply for additional funding.
A team of experts
from different specialist areas and regions subjected the projects to careful
due diligence before presenting them to the Siemens Steering Committee for
approval and then to the World Bank as part of the non-veto process and to the
European Investment Bank for informational purposes.
“This is the final funding
round under the settlement with the World Bank. In selecting the projects to be
supported, we placed particular emphasis on how the sustainability of their
activities and results can be ensured beyond 2024, and on how our partners will
inspire, support and engage local non-governmental organizations and the public
and private sectors through their longstanding networks and institutional
standing. We’re pleased to again support diverse projects in order to promote fair
competition and fight corruption with a portfolio balanced by region and topic,”
said Sabine Zindera, Head of the Siemens Integrity Initiative and Vice President
in Legal and Compliance at Siemens.
In this round,
funding will be provided to the following organizations:
- the Basel Institute on Governance, Switzerland
- the International Anti-Corruption
Academy (IACA), headquartered in Austria
- the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), headquartered in Paris
- the Maritime Network on
Anti-Corruption (MACN), Denmark
- the Transparency International Secretariat,
headquartered in Berlin
- the United Nations Global Compact
(UNGC), headquartered in New York through the Foundation for the Global Compact
- the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime (UNODC), headquartered in Vienna
- the
Vienna University of Economics and Business with a focus on tax law, Austria
Projects were
selected with a view to achieving a balanced portfolio of topics and a wide regional
distribution of funding. To further round off the portfolio, this funding round
will focus on projects with activities in the Adriatic Region, Algeria,
Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India,
Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Malaysia, Pakistan, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi
Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Zambia. Additional
globally oriented projects and projects that are focused on least developed countries
(LDCs) and emerging markets (EMs) will extend the current portfolio to over 50 countries.
As part of the
settlement between Siemens and the World Bank, the World Bank has had the right
since 2009 to audit the distribution of US$100 million in funding over a 15-year
period. The World Bank may also veto Siemens’ selection of projects and
organizations. As part of the settlement between Siemens and the European
Investment Bank (€13.64 million over five years), the EIB has the right to reject
the projects proposed.
The Annual Reports of
the Siemens Integrity Initiative, information about the funding rounds, the
selection process, the detailed profiles of the projects selected and the
independent 2017 Mid-term Review of the Initiative are available at
siemens.com/integrity-initiative.