Code of conduct

Guidelines about treatment of cases where suspicion arises or accuse about abuse of The Swallows’ support is known

Corruption or abuse of support from The Swallows undermines the goal of The Swallows with financial support given to the partners.

The goal of The Swallows is:

• to give financial support to local organizations in Bangladesh and Tamil Nadu in South India who struggle to improve the conditions for the very poorest – landless, tribal people, low castes and dalits.

When The Swallows enter into an agreement with partners we go through the contract with the partners and in this there is a passage that the partner organization does not involve itself in corruption or abuse of the support. The partners sign this contract.

If suspicion arises The Swallows will examine the case as soon as possible. It is important for The Swallows that our work is transparent.

Abuse of support or corruption will typically be discovered in connection with

• the yearly support and monitoring visits
• reports from the partners
• reports from the staff or organizations, with whom The Swallows cooperates.

The Swallows follows the below procedure if suspicion arises or if The Swallows is informed about an accuse of corruption against a partner:

1. The board of The Swallows is immediately informed about the substance of the case.
2. The Swallows starts as far as possible an investigation to expose the case. The investigation can, among other things, contain the making of enquiries for the accounts, a neutral audit or an unannounced visit.
3. The Swallows informs the partner, who is under suspicion, so that they are fully informed and makes a statement as well as other relevant documentation etc. The Swallows will secure the anonymity of the sources as far as possible. That is why we do not inform the partner who has made the accuse.
4. The committee who works with the organization in question does the job in close contact with the board. When the investigation is finished, the committee submits a recommendation to the board, who makes the final decision in the case, whether to continue the cooperation or to stop it.
5. If the accuses about corruption are confirmed, they will be published on e.g. the homepage of The Swallows and in the member magazine ‘SvaleNyt’.