Democracy That Delivers Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)

Episode Description
Last year, Poland held extraordinarily consequential parliamentary elections where the conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) lost its majority for the first time since 2015. Against this backdrop, CIPE supported a new project, “The Rule of Law – Our Future” through the Institute for Private Enterprise and Democracy (IPED) based in Warsaw between July 2023 to January 2024. As part of the Free Enterprise and Democracy Network Small Grants initiative, the project educated voters about the importance of the rule of law and encouraged youth participation in the election.  
In this podcast, Program Officer Tamari Dzotsenidze from CIPE Policy and Program Learning is joined by FEDN Steering Committee member and president of IPED Mieczyslaw Bak and Director of Program Strategy Anna Szczesniak in a discussion on lessons learned over the course of the project and perspectives on engaging with youth.

Episode Description
The Ruggie Framework is a three-pronged approach that includes the obligations of corporations to uphold human rights, the responsibility of the state to protect those rights, and the provision of effective remedies for any infringements. 

In this CIPE Anti-Corruption and Governance Center (ACGC) podcast, Luis Fernando de Angulo, Senior Advisor to the Center for Responsible Business and a member of the Institute for Human Rights and Business, joins Michele Crymes and Angela Maria Velez of CIPE as they analyze the experience of Colombia’s private sector in upholding the Ruggie Framework. They discuss the private sector’s successes, challenges, and potential areas to improve the support of human rights going forward. Crymes is ACGC Deputy Director and Velez is the Program Director for CIPE Colombia. 
 
More Information

In 2008, the United Nations Special Representative, John Ruggie, introduced a framework to the United Nations Human Rights Council to address the relationship between human rights and business activities. This framework, known as the Ruggie Principles, was a three-pronged approach that included the obligations of corporations to uphold human rights, the responsibility of states to protect these rights, and the provision of effective remedies for any infringements. In 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council unanimously approved and endorsed the Ruggie Framework, otherwise known as the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. 

Our special guest, Luis Fernando de Angulo, joins this podcast to analyze the Colombian private sector’s experiences of upholding the Ruggie Framework. Specifically, we will discuss the private sector’s successes, challenges, and areas to improve the supporting of human rights in the future. 

Anticorruption Taskforce Sudan, ACT-Sudan, is a newly established coalition of local Sudanese civil society organizations dedicated to identifying and combating corruption in Sudan to achieve the ultimate goal of ending the war and bringing justice to the people of Sudan. The task force aims to address corruption through advocacy campaigns, investigative research, and public mobilization. Omayma Gutabi, Executive Director of the Sudan Democracy First Group and founding member of ACT-Sudan, joins Staci Samuels, Program Officer for CIPE's Anti-Corruption and Governance Center, in discussion on why tackling corruption issues is key to ending the war and restoring peace to Sudan. This podcast is brought to you by CIPE's Anti-Corruption and Governance Center.

One year after devasting earthquakes in Türkiye, Erhan Arslan of TÜRKONFED joins Babak Yektafar, CIPE Program Director, and Stephen Rosenlund, Deputy Director of CIPE's Middle East and North Africa Team. TÜRKONFED, a CIPE partner, is an independent business confederation representing 30 federations and 300 associations with more than 60,000 company members across Türkiye. Arslan, TÜRKONFED’s Deputy Secretary General – Project Development and Coordination, discusses his organization’s mobilization of business associations to assist with recovery, the collective action of the private sector in rebuilding communities, and their new report that highlights supply chain resilience for economic recovery.

Fostering Growth & Collaboration in Central Asia with B5+1
The B5+1 is a business dialogue platform for the five central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, along with the United States. The Center for International Private Enterprise had a leading role in bringing these voices of the private sector together, including convening a two-day conference in Kazakhstan in March 2024. CIPE's Executive Director, Andrew Wilson, is joined by Eric Hontz, Director of CIPE's Center for Accountable Investment (CAI) and Sobir Kurbanov, Senior Program Manager for CIPE's Europe and Eurasia team to discuss the background of the B5+1, how this conference will address of the issues of different investment models in Central Asia, and what outcomes the conference hopes to achieve long term.

Eric Hontz - Center for International Private Enterprise
Eric Hontz leads CIPE’s Center for Accountable Investment which uses the lens of Corrosive and Constructive Capital to examine the impact of investment on democratic and market institutions.  The CAI's work sits at the confluence of corporate governance, the rule of law, and the business and investment climate, with...
www.cipe.org
 

Andrew Wilson - Center for International Private Enterprise
Andrew Wilson is the Executive Director of the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in Washington, D.C. Wilson has extensive experience working with the private sector on development issues in conflict and post-conflict settings, crafting successful business strategies to reduce corruption, encouraging en...
www.cipe.org
 

Two authors of the groundbreaking U.S. Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA) join the podcast to discuss one of the most sweeping and consequential anti-corruption laws of the last four decades. Tom Firestone, a partner at Squire Patton Boggs, and Scott Greytak, Director of Advocacy at the U.S. chapter of Transparency International (TI), discuss the importance of FEPA. The law makes it a crime for a foreign official to demand or accept a bribe from a company with a U.S. nexus, including those listed on a U.S. stock exchange. The guests join Frank Brown, Director of CIPE’s Anti-Corruption & Governance Center, to discuss who the law covers, the steps needed to enforce it, and what it means for other countries seeking to adopt similar legislation. This podcast is brought to you by CIPE’s Anti-Corruption & Governance Center.