The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is the leading United Nations agency working in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities, and build resilience. UNDP is the agency that leads the efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Thus, with the aim of improving corporate integrity in Mexico, UNDP Mexico is collaborating with the British Embassy in Mexico in coordination with the Office of Foreign Affairs and the British Commonwealth (FCO) in the implementation of the Project “Strengthening the capacities of SMEs to identify and combat corruption risks in Mexico”, which is part of the Business Integrity Initiative (BII) led by UKAid.

BII is a joint initiative of the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) and the FCO. The overall objective of the BII in Mexico is to help companies, particularly Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to integrate analysis and management of integrity issues into their strategies for doing business in Mexico.

The general objective of this project is to support the efforts of the private sector in Mexico to strengthen compliance with current regulations on administrative responsibilities. In particular, providing support to micro, small and medium-sized companies (MiPyMES) in their efforts to strengthen their ethics and integrity practices through tools that facilitate the identification, analysis and management of corruption risks in their business strategies.

A sub-objective of the BII is to test how British Embassies and High Commissions could support, in a more effective way, existing and/or potential investors to identify and navigate business integrity issues. To that end, DFID, DIT and the FCO, are conducting three pilots in three countries across three continents i.e. Mexico, Pakistan, and Kenya.

The purpose of the Mexican pilot is to identify local integrity issues and to test how best to provide tailored support to companies. In practice, this means:

Taking into account that SMEs represent 95% of total companies in Mexico, which create 40% of total jobs in the country, employs less than ten people, and it generates an annual profit of four million pesos. The SMEs represent important drivers of the Mexican economy. However, they are also prone to experience corruption; for example, they report a rate of 534 corruption victims per 10,000 business units (Inegi, 2016). This type of companies is the most vulnerable sector for integrity issues. Therefore, the BII will provide support to SMEs to strengthen their corporate responsibility in complying with current Mexican norms and policies on corporate integrity and anti-corruption.

The BII in Mexico is looking to encourage the improvement of integrity business practices, providing effective guidance to companies and SMEs facing corruption and/or competition challenges. By implementing this risk analysis tool, we will provide SMEs with risk assessment, risk management and recommendations to implement internal controls to mitigate corruption risks.