Established as a follow up to the to the Political Declaration, adopted at the Special session of the General Assembly against corruption in June 2021, the GRACE initiative aims to promote the role of education and youth empowerment in preventing and countering corruption. Building on the successful experience of the Education for Justice (E4J) and Anti-Corruption Academic (ACAD) initiatives, GRACE brings to the international community knowledge and experience in working with anti-corruption authorities, educators, academics, youth, and other relevant stakeholders to foster a culture of rejection of corruption. The initiative helps the next generation become the integrity leaders of tomorrow by equipping them with skills and mindsets required to promote transparency, accountability, and integrity within their communities.
Under the GRACE initiative, UNODC will strengthen the capacity of primary and secondary school teachers to teach anti-corruption, integrity and ethics through training, dialogues, forums, and campaigns. UNODC will also work with national education and anti-corruption authorities to raise awareness of the importance of value-based and anti-corruption education as well as the role of the informal education sector to create a culture of rejection of corruption among children and youth.
The tertiary component of the GRACE initiative will seek to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and good practices in the areas of education and research on anti-corruption, ethics and integrity among higher education institutions. For this purpose, UNODC will continue to expand its network of academics and researchers, and will provide them with opportunities to enhance their capacity to teach and conduct research on corruption-related issues. Further to that, UNODC will support young professionals and researchers who work in the fields of anti-corruption, ethics, and integrity through fellowships and grants with the aim to create a pool of anti-corruption experts with a solid academic background that can contribute to the effective implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption in their countries and regions.
The GRACE imitative will promote the role of youth as agents of change, and enhance their capacity to respond to corruption through innovation, technology and social entrepreneurship. In particular, UNODC will organize regional and international forums, dialogues and other activities between youth, policymakers, and anti-corruption authorities with the aim to identify efficient and tangible avenues of cooperation and promote the role of youth participation in anti-corruption efforts.
