Sustainability
Fighting corruption by App
EFFECTIVE PROTECTION
Project: TheIntegrityApp (from the GIZ Innovation Fund)
Commissioned by: GIZ
Term: ongoing
Countries where the app is used: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ghana, Indonesia, Mexico
STARTING POINT
GIZ’s Innovation Fund was set up to promote digitalisation, provide scope for creativity and cultivate agile working methods. Over 250 ideas were submitted from 65 countries when the ideas competition was piloted in 2017. One of those was TheIntegrityApp. The app was developed by a team at the Alliance for Integrity. The challenge they wanted to address was how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the public sector can equip themselves better in the fight against corruption. In many cases, these organisations lack the knowledge and qualified personnel needed to provide effective protection. Thanks to the mobile app and online platform, SMEs can assess their own particular situation. If the self-evaluation shows that more needs to be done, the company can acquire the expertise needed – for example to set up an internal compliance programme – through a range of webinars, podcasts and videos. It can then repeat the self-evaluation and make further improvements as required.
RESULTS
Just one year after the app was launched, 1,000 companies all over the world are already using it. What’s more, the development team was subsequently commissioned by Brazil’s Federal Minister for Transparency, Supervision and Control to adapt it for the public sector. Since the ‘government agency’ version was launched in June 2018, over 350 employees in the federal administration now work with TheIntegrityApp. They can use it to check their knowledge of the anti-corruption regulations and undergo further training if needed. But the app’s success story doesn’t stop there. The Chilean Government and the city authorities in Buenos Aires (Argentina) have officially requested permission to use the app in their own administrations. With so much positive feedback and so many great ideas, GIZ’s Innovation Fund is now gearing up for a third round of its ideas competition in 2019.
More information on the competition and the app:
innovationfund@giz.de
www.theintegrityapp.com
published in akzente 1/19