Corruption in international construction


Corruption is not inevitable

Bribery and fraud are thriving, undermining aid effectiveness in many aspects of international development.   It does not have to be that way. Practical and effective tools already exist to help improve transparency and accountability in the construction sector, yet these tools are not yet used widely.   Specific support services are needed for companies, clients and donors, but are not available.   By spending a little time contributing your comments and suggestions through this web site, you can help turn the tide against corruption.

To provide or facilitate the specific services that would help curb corruption, it is intended that an international centre for transparency in construction will be established in Edinburgh.   These services include:

  • Support to and external verification of companies’ Anti-Corruption Procedures;
  • Accreditation of Independent Assessors when Integrity Pacts are used; and
  • Maintenance of related databases

Details of these services, which will be developed and provided in a constructive, innovative and cooperative manner, drawing on both supply-side and demand-side perspectives, can be found here.

Structure of site

The heart of the site is the Articles section, which addresses key questions to which feedback is encouraged.   Better still, if you would like to submit an article for publication on this site, then please contact the web site manager by visiting the contact page.   Case studies describing the problems associated with corruption, and/or practical ways of reducing its reach, are particularly welcome.

RSS facilities are provided, to allow registered visitors to choose to be informed when new content is posted that is of interest to them.

Further information is provided in the Frequently Asked Questions section.

Recent news of direct current relevance is included on this home page as well as in the Articles section, where comments can be posted.

Anonymous Survey 2009

As part of the Overseas Corruption Assessment Project within the City of London Police, a civilian team is undertaking a confidential web-based survey  to identify the countries and types of corruption of greatest concern to UK organisations overseas.   The survey for private-sector organisations is now live.   Ethical Edinburgh  encourages you to complete it if it is appropriate to you, and to invite colleagues, clients and private-sector contacts in all sectors to do the same.    There is no need to provide any personal or company identification, and no problem in responses being submitted by more thanone person working for a specific company or NGO.    The survey, which takes about 5 minutes to complete, can be found here.

GIACC

The Global Infrastructure Anti-Corruption Centre   is now providing some of the services identified for the International Centre for Transparency in Construction being proposed by this web site.   This is a welcome development, which may in time obviate the need for the Ethical Edinburgh initiative.   In the meantime close communication and collaboration will be maintained between the two initiatives.