Purpose: the fragile of economic and political situations, weakness and instability in any country is a potential suitable medium to create and develop corrupted environment. Corruption minimizes the opportunity to funding projects in corrupted working environment. Typically the traditional image of local none government organizations leads to trust them, meanwhile the possibility of conducting corruption in these organizations is not far away from the staff. For example some directors or supervisors cheat the staff and seduce them to burn rate acts to show progress in the project, some mangers want to involve the staff in corrupted acts. This research arranged to minimize the potential corruption opportunities in local none government organizations in Iraq. Methodology: quantitative methodology was implemented. 29 questions plus participants` comment were arranged to be answered within 15 to 20 minutes. The collected data is primary data about the local none government organization current administration and professional state in Iraq.Finding: Level of corruption could be noted in the local none government organizations and based on the collected data this corruption is result of: a) lack of comprehensive and professional code of conduct / internal policy and b) absent of best practice and international criteria in managing and producing organization issues at daily bases. Based on the participants feedbacks international none government organizations are recommended to support building professional work environment in the local none government organizations in Iraq.
According to Transparency International (TI) corruption is: “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”.
Personal judgment based on personal justification is sort of corruption
In this research quantitative methodology was implemented. A designed monkey survey was applied and mailed to participants listed in the researchers` mail box as involvers in humanitarian sector. 29 questions plus participants` comment were organized to be answered within 15 to 20 minutes. The collected data is primary data and serves the research as the most updated and accurate data about the local none government organization current administration and professional state in Iraq. Participants were informed that they are free to withdraw at any stage in responding processes and their personal information will be anonymous.
The presented data is related to 138 respondents from different agencies and at different levels of responsibilities and sort of experiences who are worked/ work with LNGOs in Iraq.
Questions from 1 to 3are identified :
The sort of the organizations that worked/ work with the LNOs in Iraq: 112 International non-government organizations, 6 International government organizations and 20 Local non-government organization.
Position holder of the participants: 10 directors or similar, 38 managers, 80 Officers and 10 others: external consultant or temporary paid advisor.
The participant official role in the LNGOs: 4 donors, 8partners and 126 staff.
2. Questions from 4 to 10 are reflecting the percentage of participants` feedback, communication and information about the code of conduct in the LNGOs in Iraq.
Questions | Strongly Agree | Agree | I do not know | Disagree | Strongly Disagree |
The LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) has a comprehensive code of conduct / internal policy that clearly explains implementing the needed processes and procedures | 11.6 | 26.1 | 47.8 | 13.0 | 1.4 |
The code of conduct / internal policy of the LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) reflects the real needs of the organizations` activities | 13.0 | 10.1 | 36.2 | 24.6 | 15.9 |
The code of conduct / internal policy of the LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or employee) was prepared by qualified staff and their biographies have been attached with the code of conduct / internal policy. | 5.8 | 8.7 | 31.9 | 29.0 | 24.6 |
The required reasons and processes of updating the code of conduct / internal policy in the LNGOs that you are worked/work with as a (donor, partner or employee) are clear and applicable | 5.8 | 10.1 | 49.3 | 27.5 | 7.2 |
The field staffs of LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) contribute in developing and updating the code of conduct / internal policy | 8.7 | 7.2 | 17.4 | 23.2 | 43.5 |
The code of conduct / internal policy of the LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) directly answer the daily HR, Procurement, Financial and other departments` activities requirements without giving the chance of personal justifications | 4.3 | 26.1 | 18.8 | 24.6 | 26.1 |
The code of conduct / internal policy of the LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) is updated regularly taking into consideration the new challenges. | 4.3 | 31.9 | 29.0 | 21.7 | 13.0 |
3. Question 11 was separated from above questions because the sort of answers are different:
Question | Year | Every 3 year | Per request | I do not know |
The code of conduct / internal policy of the LNGOs that you worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) is reviewed every: | 7.2 | 17.4 | 42.0 | 33.3 |
4. Questions from 12 to 19 show the percentage of individual assessing and reacting with cases of corruption in LNGOs in Iraq in case were observed
Questions /Answers | Strongly Agree | Agree | I do not know | Disagree | Strongly Disagree |
How do you assess this statement: " corruption is an act done for personal benefits based on utilizing the allocated resources illegally and justify these acts within official documents without considering the ethical standards". | 71.0 | 27.5 | 1.4 | ||
Corruption in LNGOs that you worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) is perpetrated based on personal benefits | 40.6 | 47.8 | 8.7 | 2.9 | |
Corruption is affecting LNGOs reputation | 46.4 | 33.3 | 4.3 | 15.9 | |
Confirmed corruption cases reduce the opportunities of further fund in LNGOs | 46.4 | 34.8 | 14.5 | 4.3 | |
Some directors and managers in LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) encourage and excuse corruption behaviors | 29.0 | 39.1 | 14.5 | 11.6 | 5.8 |
Some directors and managers in LNGOs that you worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) accept corruption behaviors silently | 42.0 | 44.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 7.2 |
In LNGOs that you worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) corruption behaviors could be observed easily | 27.5 | 33.3 | 17.4 | 20.3 | 1.4 |
In LNGOs that you worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) corruption behaviors could be minimized | 21.7 | 46.4 | 17.4 | 13.0 | 1.4 |
5. Questions from 20 to 23 show the percentage of the managerial directing behaviors and attitude in NGOs in Iraq based on participants experiences.
Questions /Answers | Strongly Agree | Agree | I do not know | Disagree | Strongly Disagree |
Some directors and managers in LNGOs that you worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) will resign if corruption cases confirmed | 8.7 | 23.2 | 20.3 | 33.3 | 14.5 |
Some directors and managers in the LNGOs that they worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) will stay even if corruption cases confirmed | 10.1 | 40.6 | 24.6 | 20.3 | 4.3 |
The LNGOs that you worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) do not mind to receive fund from entities listed as corrupted | 10.1 | 47.8 | 14.5 | 17.4 | 10.1 |
The LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) do not mind to deal with entities listed as corrupted | 4.3 | 50.7 | 18.8 | 15.9 | 10.1 |
6. Questions from 24 to 29 are offering technical, administration and ethical recommendations, procedures and methodologies to prevent possibilities of corruption in LNGOs in Iraq.
Questions /Answers | Strongly Agree | Agree | I do not know | Disagree |
In LNGOs that you worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) conducting periodical technical testing of the employees is an efficient technique to stop corruption recruiting processes | 56.5 | 39.1 | 1.4 | 2.9 |
In LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff), to enhance the transparency during the technical testing processes the processes should be done in coordination with an external third part identified by the donors. | 60.9 | 37.7 | 1.4 | |
In LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff), appointing a technical advisor from the donor to overview the transparency of the procedures will control the corruption possibilities in the LNGOs | 47.8 | 50.7 | 1.4 | |
In LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff), engaging a technical member from the donors to recruitment panel will reduce corruption possibilities in the employment processes or selecting the vendors. | 60.9 | 36.2 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
Installing online complaint screens to submit corruption cases and to be reviewed directly by HQ will control abusing of the authorities or misleading inside the LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) | 58.0 | 39.1 | 2.9 | |
The relationship between the donors and the LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) should not be limited to financial support or reviewing the annual reports. | 75.4 | 23.2 | 1.4 |
7. Reviewing questions from 4 to 11 shows that the high rate of the answers was collected under “I do not know “category.
Questions | Strongly Agree | Agree | I do not know | Disagree | Strongly Disagree |
The LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) has a comprehensive code of conduct / internal policy that clearly explains implementing the needed processes and procedures | 16 | 36 | 66 | 18 | 2 |
The code of conduct / internal policy of the LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) reflects the real needs of the organizations` activities | 18 | 14 | 50 | 34 | 22 |
The code of conduct / internal policy of the LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or employee) was prepared by qualified staff and their biographies have been attached with the code of conduct / internal policy. | 8 | 12 | 44 | 40 | 34 |
The required reasons and processes of updating the code of conduct / internal policy in the LNGOs that you are worked/work with as a (donor, partner or employee) are clear and applicable | 8 | 14 | 68 | 38 | 10 |
The field staffs of LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) contribute in developing and updating the code of conduct / internal policy | 12 | 10 | 24 | 32 | 60 |
The code of conduct / internal policy of the LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) directly answer the daily HR, Procurement, Financial and other departments` activities requirements without giving the chance of personal justifications | 6 | 36 | 26 | 34 | 36 |
The code of conduct / internal policy of the LNGOs that you worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) is updated regularly taking into consideration the new challenges | 6 | 44 | 40 | 30 | 18 |
The code of conduct / internal policy of the LNGOs that you worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) is reviewed every | 10 | 24 | 58 | 46 | |
Total answers | 84 | 190 | 376 | 272 | 182 |
The obtained results show reflect the previous and current experiences of dealing with the LNGOs in Iraq especially those who work in effectively Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
The analyzing processes to the collected data conducted according to classification the questions in the distributed survey among the participants.
1. The questions from 4 to 10 show the relationship between the donor and the LNGO and Code of Conduct/ Internal policy were tested to formulate how much the donors know about the LNGOs that they work worked with:
a) The percentage of the data showed that the reporting, monitoring and evaluating system between the participants and the engaged LNGOs according to their experiences are limited to official documents focus on explaining the financial and administration responsibilities between both partners. Absolutely documenting the financial, administration and procurement processes are very important and an essential success part in any project, but on the other hand such documents will not cover the implementing methodologies, the level of performance, the commitment towards morals and humanitarian values, the utilized tools and techniques at the daily level of operations.
b) The acceptance and supporting rates became lower when the survey developed to ask more specific information about the code of conduct / internal policy of the LNGOs and how it was formulated. Comparing the answers of question 4 and 5 with the rest questions from 6 to 10. Further intervention is needed to explore the practical capacity of the LNGOs.
c) The efficiency of LNOGs code of conduct/ internal policy should be reviewed and reformulated as the source of this code of conduct / internal policy and reflecting the real needs of developing the code of conduct / internal policy were not addressed and involved properly, the questions 6 and 8 respectively. The process of copy paste or preparing any general code of conduct / internal policies to obtain an official approval to run the organization does not mean that this code of conduct will match and effective for the organization daily work, meanwhile neglecting the field staff feedback to develop the code of conduct / internal policy will make the updating processes of code of conduct / internal policy is inefficient.
d) Question 11 showed that code of conduct / internal policy are reviewed per request (42%) of 138 respondents, but in this regard the reviewing process of the implemented code of conduct / internal policies in LNGOs will not clearly identify the real needs as the feedback of field staff did not take into consideration.
As a general overview the answers trend to shift to disagree and strongly disagree areas as the questions became more specified and the answers became more identified.
1. Corruption as theory or practical: questions from 12 to 19 examined the understanding of corruption concept and its impact on the daily work and implemented activities:
a) Majority of participants (98%) agreed on corruption definition; meanwhile only (88%) of the participants agreed that corruption perpetrated based on personal benefits. It’s understood that the most affected factor to produce corruption is personal reasons.
b) According to the answers (79%) of participants agreed that corruption is affecting the organization reputation; meanwhile (86%) of participants agreed that some directors and managers in LNGOs that they worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) accept corruption behaviors silently and this shows the gap between the theory and practical aspects of corruption concept in LNGOs which covered in this survey. The acceptance of corruption behaviors silently could be observed as the organization hires some staff under qualification or delaying recruiting processes purposely to hire an identified person previously. This behavior cold be noted also as the organization management build long-term relationship with one supplier and excusing their decision based on technical and logistic factors
2. The obtained answers from questions 16 and 18 showed that (68%) agreed that some directors and managers in LNGOs that they worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) encourage and excuse corruption behaviors and (60%) agreed that in LNGOs that they worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) corruption behaviors could be observed easily respectively. These results are supporting the obtained results from questions 5 and 6 that the LNGOs code of conduct / internal policy reflect the real needs and the code of conduct / internal policy were prepared by qualified staff respectively.
3. Corruption is not matter: questions from 20 to 23 showed that corruption is not necessary to harm or attract attention every decision maker in the examined LNGOs and some of the directors and managers can deal with this issue as its not exist or as routine issue. This is one of the very negative outcomes of dealing with corruption carelessly:
a) Almost (48%) of participants disagree that some directors and managers in LNGOs that they worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) will resign if corruption cases confirmed in the examined LNGOs. Almost half of participants in the survey are convinced that practically the current applied Code of conduct / internal policy in the involved LNGOs have shortage in determining corruption behaviors or fighting corrupters.
b) Above (50%) of participants agreed that some directors and managers in the LNGOs that they worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) will stay even if corruption cases confirmed.
c) Above (57%) of participants agreed that the examined LNGOs that they worked/ work with as a (donor, partner or staff) do not mind to receive fund from entities listed as corrupted. Workers in humanitarian field should be aware and carefully listen to this caution bell. This research even if it was conducted in specific geographic area, but there is a high possibility to be repeated in similar societies and other areas and in turn leads to global challenge.
d) Almost (55%) of the participants agreed that the examined LNGOs that they worked/work with as a (donor, partner or staff) do not mind to deal with entities listed as corrupted. This result should attract the donors’ attention to build professional relationship with the organizations that they fund to ensure healthy and correct spending of the fund. On the other hand the donors should take care about their administration and professional reputation. Donors should double check that the fund receivers are clearly and practically reflect the donor global values and morals.
Generally the above results are in line with the obtained results from the first package of questions from 5 to 11 and the code of conduct/ internal policy: a) does not reflect the real need of the organization, b) were not prepared by qualified staff, c) organization staff feedback were not took into consideration in developing the code of conduct / internal policy, d) are subjected to personal justifications regardless the standard criteria and the updating processes of code of conduct and internal policy do not reflect the reality needs of the organization.
4. Recommendations: this package of questions showed part of the participants` challenge to work in healthy and professional work environments. The answers were evidence on observing corruption and looking for solution.
a) Above 95% of participants agree with recommendation of conducting periodical technical testing of the employees is an efficient technique to stop corruption recruiting processes. This step will contribute in uncovering any none technical or ethical behaviors during recruiting processes especially during interview session and closing the opportunity to getting advantage from interview session to select staff based on favoritism or personal judgment. Also it shows the capacity of HR staff in reviewing and submitting the most qualified staff to the organization management.
b) Above 98% of participants agreed with recommendation of enhancing the transparency during the technical testing processes through adding an external third part which will be identified by the donors and appointing a technical advisor from the donor to overview the transparency of the procedures to control the corruption possibilities in the LNGOs. Meanwhile above 96% of the participants agreed that engaging a technical member from the donors to recruitment panel will reduce corruption possibilities in the employment processes or selecting the vendors. These steps will minimize any hidden or unofficial agreement used to be conducted inside the organization between the program department and HR unit to select the new staff or between the procurement department and vendors to give the bits to specific agency or contractor. The donor close directing engaging will ensure accepted reliability and an effective mechanism to spend the allocated fund without causing any abusing of the authorities inside the organization.
c) Above 97% of the respondents agreed with recommendation of installing online complaint screens to submit corruption cases and to be reviewed directly by HQ to control abusing of the authorities or misleading inside the LNGOs. This step will unfold any possibilities of prepared scenarios or fake excuses to terminate or releasing staff. On the other hand this tool will support the LNGOs management to update the organization code of conduct / internal policy more efficiently.
d) Above 98% of participants agreed with the recommendation that says: The relationship between the donors and the LNGOs should not be limited to financial support or reviewing the annual reports. This point will contribute significantly in solving many issues inside the LNGOs as the donor will:
1. Sharing their best practice with the LNGOs.
2. Closely responding to the update and reacting properly to safe the fund and both organizations` reputation.
3. Minimizing any personal attempts to misusing the authority inside the organization or misleading the staff to cause staff liquidation and later appointing new staff and build internal clique. It should be part donors’ responsibility to check the employee history of any organization requests fund or financial support.
4. Capacity building: strengthen the recruiting processes in LNGOs in Iraq as adding external resource to communication with the donor side regarding any complaining, engaging the donor or partners more in the hiring panel, conducting test of the recruited staff as a technique to stop corruption in recruiting processes or selecting vendors and also to control any favoritism during the interview sessions. Last but not least unify the interview duration and the addressed questions especially that some interview sessions are arranged just pretend that the processes are done and there is no previous selected person for the announced position. Today it became part of reality that jobseekers call to find out if the position has been occupied previously or it worth to submit their CVs.
5. I do not know: the survey showed that the high rate of the participants does not know about the organization code of conduct and internal policy. This rate as explained in table (6) shows the huge gap between the efficiency of implemented activities in the reality and the organization management board.
Using online survey as a tool to collect data is somehow new in Iraq meanwhile it was adopted as the most protected way to ensure secure and transparent feedback. Due to the sensitivity of the issue, the collected data of this survey conducted through online service to give the participants all the space to answer freely and protect the respondents from any potential abusing or misleading by their supervise.
This paper could be considered as one of the first attempts to conduct researches on the effectiveness of transparency in the LNGOs and minimizing corruption through emphasizing on the quality of program rather than requesting makeup data to convince the donors to give further funds.
The obtained results showed that notable level of corruption is exist in examined LNGOs and there is no effectiveness implementing code of conduct / internal policy that prevent corruption.
Level of corruption could be noted in the LNGOs and based on the collected data this corruption is result of: a) lack of comprehensive and professional code of conduct / internal policy, b) absent of best practice and international criteria in managing and producing organization issues at daily bases which lead to some shortages as: 1) some directors and managers negatively abusing the authorized power of their positions for their personal advantage regardless the humanitarian principles in the LNGOs,2) staff do not feel responsible to inform about corruption practice and more worse is they do not feel shy, shame or embarrassed from approving or practicing corruption in their work areas, and these behaviors’ lead to 3) to be corrupted or not corrupted will not make big different as some of the corrupted directors and managers will remain in their positions if even their corruption cases confirmed.
Based on the participants feedbacks: INGOs are recommended to support building professional work environment in the LNOGs to establish productive work environment to share the best practice and developing the personal capacity in the LNGOs which includes but not limited to: designing clear and identified goals and objectives, determining and identifying the role and responsibilities of the directors and managers to ensure healthy practicing to their role among the staff, developing and protecting the organization principles and methodologies against individual interventions.