Business ethics and commitments

INTRODUCTION

The West African Development Bank (BOAD) is the joint Institution of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU) whose mission is to promote the balanced development of its Member States and to contribute to the realization of the economic integration of West Africa.
According to Article 6 of its Constitution, the capital of the BOAD is shared between type A shareholders and type B members. These shareholders are represented by administrators in the Board of Directors of the BOAD.

Moreover, the BOAD is entitled to create companies or other entities, with or without corporate status, in which it holds directly or indirectly the majority of the capital, or on which it has control (hereafter ‘Affiliated Entities’), and to which specific missions are assigned. The expression ‘control’ means the power to manage the affiliated entity and to guide its policy, either through voting rights in its capital, by contract, or any other means.

By reference to the fundamental texts, policy papers of the BOAD, and to international standards on ethics, this Charter defines for the members of the Board members of the BOAD, as well as the members of various Boards, executive boards, or other management boards of affiliated entities, the guidelines, standards and conventions regarding professional ethics and deontology.

Read full document

INTRODUCTION

The West African Development Bank (BOAD) is the joint Institution of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU) whose mission is to promote the balanced development of its Member States and to contribute to the realization of the economic integration of West Africa.

According to Article 6 of its Constitution, the capital of the BOAD is shared between type A shareholders and type B members. These shareholders are represented by administrators in the Board of Directors of the BOAD.

Moreover, the BOAD is entitled to create companies or other entities, with or without corporate status, in which it holds directly or indirectly the majority of the capital, or on which it has control (hereafter ‘Affiliated Entities’), and to which specific missions are assigned. The expression ‘control’ means the power to manage the affiliated entity and to guide its policy, either through voting rights in its capital, by contract, or any other means.

By reference to the fundamental texts, policy papers of the BOAD, and to international standards on ethics, this Charter defines for the members of the Board members of the BOAD, as well as the members of various Boards, executive boards, or other management boards of affiliated entities, the guidelines, standards and conventions regarding professional ethics and deontology.

Read full document

INTRODUCTION

The Code of Ethics of the BOAD commits for the respect of a professional ethics which is declined as (basis for action) designed to inspire in all circumstances the attitude of the collaborator.
These principles of actions do not only result from moral considerations or rules of law. They are not confined to the reminder of the need to observe the law. They are seeking to promote an exemplary professional behavior, in all circumstances.

To be achieved, the objectives of the Code of ethics challenge everyone for reflection and to the sense of responsibility because the current provisions cannot govern all the situations to which the staff can be faced with on a daily basis. But they set forth the principles of respect, equality and honesty qui must govern the conduct of each.

This Code of conduct, hereinafter « the Code », applies to the staff of the West African Development Bank « the Bank ». It does not replace the specific rules that govern the staff within the organization and should be read in conjunction with the Staff regulation and rules.
By extension, it also applies in so far as it is inscribed in their agreements, to third parties who are contracted by the Bank to provide services.

If this code is found to be incomplete or inaccurate in some situations, if a staff feels an uncertainty or doubt about action to be taken in case of particular situations, he should refer to ethics committee, its hierarchy or the official in charge of Human resources.

The staff of legal services or human resources can also recourse and consult, the ethics committee of the BOAD about any situation or issue concerning ethics. The mission of the ethics committee is to ensure the good operation of the warning procedure defined by this code. It is appointed by the President of the BOAD.

Read full document

INTRODUCTION

This policy reaffirms the commitment of the Bank to promote the mainstreaming of gender issues as a means to promote the reduction of poverty, economic development and equality between women and men in the area of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). It relates mainly to the equality between men and women as an objective of development rather than women as a target group. The achievement of this goal requires the Bank to consider all its policies, programs and projects to identify the impact that they have and could have on women and men.

The Bank’s policy on gender is based on the observation that Africa in general and the UEMOA zone in particular has close and specific links in terms of gender which directly affect its economic and social development.

It takes into account the international action program, which aims to achieve a full and equal partnership between women and men, an essential condition to address challenges facing the UEMOA.

In this broader perspective, the issue of how to convert gender issues into policies and development interventions, and in particular how to target more effectively and more equitably, financial resources and others to increase the productivity of women and strengthen their autonomy, is at the heart of policies and development activities undertaken by the Bank. It has been suggested that targeting only women is not enough and that the development of policies and development plans should take into consideration the needs of both women and men at the same time.

Gender has become an issue of development intervention. In the first instance, disparities persist between women and men in spite of significant improvements in the level of the absolute status of women and equality between women and men in most of West African countries. Most of the women enjoy fewer social, economic and legal rights than men and do not have access to development resources, to the benefits and do not participate in decision-making at all levels of society. Then, the disparities between women and men have a negative impact on development. Experience has shown that the discrimination based on gender gives rise to a lower economic growth, to more poverty, to more weak governance and to a lower standard of living. On the other hand, the improvement of the capacities of women in the field of education gives rise to decreases in infant mortality; improvement of nutritional status and have a remarkable influence on the reduction of poverty. The policies should, therefore, lay equal emphasis on the development needs, both for women and men and transform structures and processes that continue to fuel inequality.

This policy also reflects the principles for the elimination of discrimination against women; global consensus reached through several global conferences, in particular those of Dakar and Beijing, as well by numerous research and points of view from the sub-region. In addition, it is consistent with the guidelines relating to equality between women and men and the strengthening of the autonomy of women in development cooperation, mapped out by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Gender policy is divided into four chapters. The first presents the international context, African and regional as well as the justification for the consideration of gender in development. The obstacles to the implementation of measures of equality between women and men in the WAEMU are presented in the second chapter. The basis of the policy, the guidelines of the BOAD and the priorities of its gender policy are presented in chapter 3. Chapter 4 is suggesting strategies for the implementation of the gender policy by the Bank.

Read full document

The Policy and procedures manual for the fight against Fraud and Corruption within operations of the WADB was promulgated by the regulation No. 2012-007 dated 8 May 2012. It has as objective to:

1) provide a practical definition and a conceptual framework for the comprehension of different forms, types and levels of corruption;

2) specify under which conditions and how corruption and fraud can take place in Bank operations, and the methods to avoid them, and

3) define procedures on how the Bank’s staff and other employees taking part in Bank activities must react to acts of corruption and fraud in Banking operations. The manual is inspired from the Statutes of the Bank, the statutes and staff rules, ethical code and other rules and procedures of good governance and good conduct linked to corruption and fraud in Banking operations. It supplements ongoing initiatives to strengthen the Bank’s safeguard measures through inspection and mediation.

Read full document

The West African Development Bank (BOAD), in the context of the mandate entrusted to him since 1973, has progressively increased its volume of intervention in the promotion of integrated development of eight (08) States of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (BOAD).

In order to ensure a better consideration of environmental and social issues in the funded-operations, the Bank adopted in 2003, a document of policies and procedures for environmental and social management intervention in the financing of projects, an environmental and social procedures manual and a manual of environmental classification of projects. This allowed BOAD to participate effectively alongside its borrowers to the protection of populations, their ecosystems and their living environment.

Such policies and procedures adopted in 2003 by BOAD recommend revising periodically the content of the documents based upon international evolution. Also, in order to comply with current international standards for environmental and social management, BOAD undertook an update of its safeguards, like sister institutions such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank… with which BOAD cooperates closely in its operations.

This document of policies and procedures for the Bank intervention in environmental and social management in the financing of projects has been developed in this context. This document of policies and procedures has the advantage of containing all policies and procedures of BOAD’s intervention in environmental and social management in project financing, based on the World Bank’s Safeguards.

BOAD has also completed its texts of environmental and social management with:

• Environmental and social guidelines ;
• Policies and procedures manuals relating to international fiduciary and environmental standards, including: Policy and procedures manual for the prevention and fighting corruption and fraud in the operations of BOAD; Manual of procedures of investigations and sanctions in the fight against corruption and fraud; Manual of policy on protection of whistleblower; Manual of policy and procedures on verification of conformity; Manual of policy and procedures on grievance; Manual of policy on information disclosure.

Read full document