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ePaper created 2015-12-01, 11:32:17 | version 1.43.00
akzente 2/1530 Background HEINZ-MICHAEL HAUSER is the Integrity Advisor at GIZ. Transparency, integrity, accountability – three values championed by GIZ worldwide. Heinz-Michael Hauser explains how the company puts these principles into practice. Living compliance I magine the scenario: a GIZ member of staff, who needs to get her car cleared by customs, is asked for a ‘tip’ to speed up the process. Instead she pays the official sum and is made to wait three days for her vehicle. This is just one of the many situations encountered worldwide by GIZ employees in the course of their everyday work. Not all such circumstances are as obviously corrupt, however. Corruption can also be found where it is least expected. If we are to work effi- ciently and remain credible in what we do, we must guarantee compliance with laws, regulations and international standards. My job is to work with new members of staff before they take up a post and to famil- iarise them with situations that potentially harbour such risks. By signing their employ- ment contract, every GIZ employee under- takes to comply with our Code of Conduct. But this does not contain a set of instructions that covers each individual case. So I’m con- stantly explaining how important it is to be vigilant and conscious of one’s actions. Integ- rity advisors are on hand as neutral contacts should a specific issue arise or where clarifica- tion is needed. Whistleblowers who wish to remain anonymous can also get in touch with GIZ’s external ombudswoman. Many of the rules and regulations that are already part of everyday life at GIZ are re- quired by our clients and commissioning parties. A prime example is invoice transpar- ency. GIZ carries out regular internal audits at all its offices in order to identify potential weak spots at an early stage and prevent er- rors. In line with international standards, we also conduct additional audits that are certi- fied by the German Institute of Internal Au- diting (DIIR). It costs time and resources to send control and audit teams to places like eral Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Fed- eral Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) – and therefore GIZ too. The audi- tors have unrestricted access to all docu- ments, records and data. In similar proce- dures, we submit ourselves to inspections from the European Court of Auditors, the state audit offices and external auditors. On top of all this, BMZ is also subject to an an- nual external quality control, which looks at the economic viability of 50 projects world- wide. We implement all recommendations from the auditors immediately. It is a challenging task, since GIZ is now broader based than ever before: our commis- sions come from the private sector, govern- ments and the European Union. Each of our clients or commissioning parties has different requirements. But this is where we see com- pliance as a competitive advantage. Because we act responsibly, abide by the rules and al- low ourselves to be measured against interna- tional standards such as those of the Global Compact, our work as a professional service provider is increasingly in demand. I am cer- tain that compliance will become an increas- ingly important part of our work in the years ahead. Our guiding principle is to deal openly with challenges, exercise sound judge- ment, and take responsible, transparent deci- sions. Previous ‘Background’ articles on GIZ’s work can be found on: www.giz.de/magazine-akzente Timbuktu, Manila or Lima – but when it comes to fulfilling our responsibility to our business partners it is certainly worth the ef- fort. Since the majority of our work is fi- nanced by the taxpayer, our policy is always to run further external checks – both for pub- lic and private contracts. The German Fed- eral Audit Office inspects all organisations and bodies that receive funding out of the federal budget, including the German Fed- illustration:elliotbeaumont(PAGE30)