Peru strengthens public integrity through a Guide to Ethical Dilemmas

The effectiveness of the fight against corruption is significantly hampered when it is based on strict enforcement, firm prosecution and the creation of greater regulation. Based on this idea, a strategic approach has emerged that is based on the promotion of public integrity to prioritise public interests over private ones.  

Since 2020, Peruvian National Civil Service Authority ( SEVIR ) has been working on a model to improve integrity in the Peruvian Public Administration with a massive impact through a practical approach. This has enabled the European cooperation programme EUROsociAL+ to support SEVIR by creating a practical guide on ethical dilemmas to fulfil its objective of strengthening Peru’s public integrity system in the area of human resource management.  

The guide meets the need to have a document with a concept, reflection and action approach, in the face of risks to integrity and possible ethical problems in the Peruvian public sector. The guidelines are based on the premise that public employees want to do things ethically to avoid ethical stagnation in the public sector. In this regard, the guide also includes instruments that analyse and question moral practices to improve integrity in the public sector based on a pragmatic approach to achieve the ethical development of the institutions.  

Among other results, this collaboration has led to a diagnosis of the implementation of the Civil Service Code of Ethics, a study of civil servants’ perceptions of the ethical climate in their public entities, and a public ethics training plan for Peruvian public managers.