UNA Fiji Participates in The Pacific Youth Summit
5 of our members were invited to participate in the #PacificYouthSummit organized on 7 December to commemorate International #Anti-Corruption Day (9 December) with the 2021 theme, “Your right, your role: Say no to Corruption” on Tuesday, 07 December 2021 at USP Laucala Campus, Suva, Republic of Fiji.
With Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as our guiding light, particularly #SDG 5 (Gender Equality), #SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) and #SDG 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions), we learnt about anti-corruption, transparency, and accountability to achieve progress on Agenda 2030 in the Pacific.
Part of the main discussions of the Summit took place during the workshops which were hosted at USP campuses in Lautoka, Labasa and Laucala (campuses in Fiji), Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu, Niue and led by students themselves and focused on acquainting the participants with the Business Integrity Toolkit formulated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In this, values such as moral compasses, quality of management, local business culture and international best practice were highlighted, as well as vices such as corruption and bribery which are detrimental to an organisation’s progress and the need for proper whistle-blower policies in governance.
“People tend to shy away, get afraid and are not bothered about reporting corruption happening around us. More importantly, we are not aware of what is right and wrong in terms of business integrity, corruption, and good governance. To report or stop corruption we need to instil a moral compass within ourselves able to judge what is right and wrong, act accordingly, know the law and be able apply them”, reflected Mr. Arnold Krishna, the Hon. Treasurer of UNA Fiji.
Ms. Aliya Hanif, another member, also added that it taught her a very important lesson in regards to business integrity which is to put honesty above profit.
The Summit was hosted by the University of the South Pacific Students’ Association (USPSA) in partnership with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) under the United Nations Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption (UN-PRAC) Project funded by the New Zealand Government.
With Class, Dignity, and Elegance-
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