ANTI-CORRUPTION POLICY
Transparency
Cases with fraud and deceit is being tracked and as far as possible the money will be returned - if necessary through a police report and legal proceedings.
BØRNEfonden has a policy about transparency. Cases of deceit, fraud, corruption and nepotism are therefore published here on our webpage.
However we do not publish small cases such as missing receipts or pens or cases of omission or if employees act neglectfully. But we strive to provide a credibly and satisfactory image of how we deal with corruption, nepotism, deceit and fraud.
The table in the document below is an overview of the main fraud cases, registered in BØRNEfonden since early 2010.
BØRNEfonden has a proactive anti-corruption policy, which applies to all employees, partners and suppliers of BØRNEfonden. We refuse to pay any kind of bribes and always react when we feel exposed for pressure to pay money under the table, deliver illegal services or illicitly favouring one supplier over another.
We believe that corruption and nepotism is repressed most sufficiently through transparency and if stick to our principles. You can read more about our guidelines to prevent corruption, in our ethical guidelines.
Ethical Guidelines (PDF-format)
Employees at BØRNEfonden are trained in how to react when being exposed to pressure, and whom to report to. The authorities in Copenhagen have an email account, where all employees safely can direct their suspicion or concern about violation of BØRNEfonden’s ethical guidelines.
Being a victim of fraud and misuse of resources is a risk that unfortunately is quite large in poor countries. Corruption is present at almost all levels and one have to be meticulous and cautious for not being scammed.
Controlling
in order to prevent fraud and deceit, BØRNEfonden has a controller-unit, which is extremely detail-oriented to secure that the money donated by sponsors and donors is implemented according to the mission of BØRNEfonden.
In each of the five countries where BØRNEfonden works, there is a national controlling function that controls the activities carried out by the centres and report to the respective national director and the regional controlling function in West Africa. The controllers have unannounced visits in the development units around the programme countries.
In the controlling team we have a regional controller who is in charge for all the national offices and of all the major projects in each of the programme countries. The regional controller reports to BØRNEfonden in Denmark.
The head office in Denmark is the monitoring function. The head office verifies the collective controlling activities and supports the regional controlling function. Fortunately there are almost no situations with major fraud cases and the smaller deceits and frauds have decreased significantly.
The explanation for this is to be found in our preventive work to reduce fraud and our corporation and involvement of controllers.
