If you know of or suspect irregularities or illegal activity happening within the Atlas Alliance, or in organizations or projects receiving funding from the Atlas Alliance, we ask you to report it.
Conditions worthy of criticism in all organizations that either directly or indirectly receive funding from the Atlas Alliance can be notified. Alerts must be treated professionally, and alerts can be sent anonymously. You can report allegations such as bribery, theft, fraud, embezzlement, conflict of interest, nepotism, discrimination, sexual abuse, exploitation and sexual harassment (SEAH) or other forms of harassment.
When any suspicion or evidence of a case emerges, the Atlas Alliance secretariat shall be notified immediately, even if you do not have the whole picture. The secretariat will notify relevant donors.
Notify The Atlas Alliance
Notification can be sent either to whistleblowing@atlas-alliansen.no or via the Atlas Alliance's notification form.
Notify via external channels
It is also possible to notify Norad directly or to Norad's external notification channel. More information about this can be found on Norad's website.
Handling of cases
The Atlas Alliance is responsible for handling the contact with donors in cases of suspected corruption, financial irregularities, sexual exploitation and harassment. The contract holder shall cooperate fully with the Atlas Alliance investigation and follow-up.
The anti-corruption focal point in the secretariat, together with selected other staff members with relevant expertise reviews the information to decide on further action. Norad is provided with an account of all the known facts and an assessment of how the matter will be followed up by Atlas, including whether criminal prosecution or other sanctions are considered appropriate. Norad is kept updated whenever significant new information emerges, or new steps are considered.
The secretariat and Norwegian organizations collaborate closely in the follow-up and considerations of what steps shall be taken in the case handling. Based on the evidence in the case, some possible reactions steps are:
- Gather information and investigate information further
- Freeze funding
- Internal investigations
- Investigations from regular auditor
- External investigations
- Concrete efforts taken to reduce risk, either by implementing partner or by Norwegian organization
- Report cases to police
- Make changes in projects, staff, routines etc in the affected organization
Safety of whistleblowers
The Atlas Alliance is concerned about the safety of whistleblowers. In cases where whistleblowers fear retaliation or in other ways fear for their safety, the Atlas Alliance will adjust the way we investigate cases to cater to the needs of the whistleblower. It is often not necessary to inform involved parties that there has even been a whistleblower. Although it is easier to follow up cases if the Atlas Alliance can keep in contact with the whistleblower, it is possible to report concerns anonymously.