4 ways young people can help fight corruption

Recent headlines from around the world are providing important
reminders of the need to promote clean and transparent
businesses, governments and societies. One of the most critical
demographics in this conversation is the millennial generation,
those who are just now entering the workforce and will begin to
assume leadership positions over the next decade.
What are the expectations of future generations when it comes
to creating a greater sense of accountability and transparency
within key institutions? What do today’s leaders offer in terms of
a model for those who will follow them? How can business
leaders in particular harness youth interest as they seek to create
the most competitive workforce for the future and position their
organization as an employer of choice?
We were interested in exploring the view of those between the
ages of 18 and 34 as part of a public-awareness campaign
around our theme Designing Corruption Out of the System.
Together with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Transparency
International, the Accountability Lab and the International
Student Festival in Trondheim, we surveyed millennial networks
of our organizations to find out what they thought of the impact
of corruption – how it affects their lives, their communities and
how it may impact their future opportunities. The results provide
a starting point to understanding the full scope of this
generation’s perspectives on this issue and are worth examining,
especially in the context of political, economic and societal
shifts.
Our survey revealed that 72% of respondents believe that
corruption is holding their country back and resulting in lost
opportunities for their generation. This is particularly the case
in the region of sub-Sahara Africa, 90% of respondents believe
corruption is causing impediments to growth. These results echo
the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report
2014-2015 , in which businesses from this region named
corruption among the top hindrances. It is promising to see that
both business and the next generation of its leaders are
identifying the damage to be faced if corruption is not
addressed.
So what can we do?
Align global efforts for greater impact. More than
80% of millennials surveyed think the international
community should pay a great deal more attention
to the effects of corruption and its prevention and
control. We agree. More alignment is needed
across organizations, and the mandate includes the
development of an anti-corruption agenda, along
with support and partnership from institutions that
feel the effects of corruption in their work (for
example, development and humanitarian
organizations). Alignment of agendas would help
streamline resources, strategies and objectives
towards impact, both globally and locally.
Collaborate more deeply on high-priority
objectives – and stick with them. Alignment would
naturally lead to a prioritization of the most
important actions that need to be undertaken. The
important point is to go deep on the implementation
of the most mission-critical recommendations. At
the global level, recommendations developed
through a multistakeholder process – for example,
the G20/B20 – offer an agenda to which resources
can be committed. This ensures that these
dialogues actually have repeat customers.
Hold one another accountable. The Forum’s PACI
community comprises more than 100 CEO
signatories who commit to zero tolerance against
corruption in all its forms. This is no small
commitment for complex, global companies, and
few organizations are without challenges. The
question is not whether an organization may
discover a problem with corruption; rather, it’s how
to respond when something goes awry. It takes
leadership and patience to change an organization.
But starting from within provides credibility and a
foundation, by adopting strong compliance
programmes and transparent supply chains, and
engaging business partners to adopt similar
standards. From this platform of commitment,
companies can work together to enable more
action; this in turn can create fairer market
conditions, levelling the playing field and setting an
example for others to follow.
Address the tough issues. Corruption takes many
forms. Increasingly, it provides less obvious ways
and means of diverting resources from the system.
While proposals to expose corruption-masking
ownership structures are not without opposition,
they should be pursued, along with other steps
towards greater transparency. Leaders need to
have an honest discussion about how to minimize
the impact of corrupt practices on economic and
political stability. Dialogue of this sort could help
build much-needed trust among leaders from all
sectors.
Finally, let’s not forget the views of the next generation.
Systemic change takes time; whatever seeds can be planted
now will eventually come to fruition, leaving something valuable
for the next generation to cultivate even further.
The full results of the survey, The Impact of Corruption:
Perspectives from Millennial Voices