Fraud, theft, misuse of goods or services, and culpable waste includes the acquisition or misuse of our funds or property by deception, which consists of but is not limited to any intentional act or omission relating to (1) failure to disclose an interest in order to enjoy financial or other benefits or gains, or cause a loss to a person, project or organization in the process of distributing our funds, (2) misapplication of our funds for purposes other than those agreed in the contractual arrangement, and (3) use or presentation of false, incorrect or incomplete statements or documents which has the effect of misapplying, misappropriating or wrongfully retaining of funds and non-disclosure of information in violation of a specific obligation with the aforementioned effect.
Corruption includes abuse of entrusted power for private gain or private pleasure based on financial and/or non-financial actions. This includes – among other things – offering, seeking and/or accepting (personal) services, resources or any other advantage by abuse of trusted power. Trusted power is abused by carrying out – directly or indirectly – any unlawful acts, bribery, theft, embezzlement, extortion, (personal) exploitation, or conflict of interests, fraud, granting or receiving unlawful compensation, money laundering.
Interpersonal violations include any form of discriminatory expressions, discrimination, intimidation, humiliation, bullying, violence, abuse towards children and vulnerable adults, sexual harassment, sexual harassment and sexual violence and any similar actions or inactions.
Specifically: Bullying is when a person (child) is intimidated (verbally attacked, joked about, humiliated, offended) excluded, or threatened. ‘Mobbing’ is if the event is perpetuated by a group of individuals. Discrimination: Any behavior/acts exercised by an individual or group which promotes the unequal treatment on the grounds of race, ethnicity nationality, gender, sexual or identity preferences, physical or mental health, age, religious, or political convictions. (This can also occur systematically).
Sexual harassment: where a person (child) is sexually annoyed, intimidated, humiliated, threatened, violated, or exploited by another. Thus, failing to respect consent or physical and sexual integrity of another person.
It is a violation to dehumanize any child or person, or to infringe on their dignity by our behavior. We will not tolerate that our staff, volunteers, partners, program participants or allies engage of support any form of slavery, enforced- or childlabor, or sexual exploitation or human trafficking. (A child is defined as someone under the age of 18 regardless of the age of majority/consent in country).
A Professional violation involves culpable behavior or negligence which results in demonstrable and significant harm towards colleagues, partners or allies, or the reputation of the Symi Network.
Failure to adhere to this code of conduct will lead to proportional punishment from disciplinary measures up to terminating the contract with staff, partners and/or allies. The rest of this policy is about prevention, and where staff and partners can find information and support to prevent, stop and ALWAYS report integrity violations.
The SYMI NETWORK Prevention, Reporting and Investigation system
1. Awareness We create awareness of our code of conduct and contractual obligations with partners, volunteers, program participants, members of the Supervisory Board and committees, and where relevant with allies. We provide the necessary training and support to staff for the effective implementation of this policy.
2. Risk management We take precautions to mitigate the risks and consequences associated with our integrity policy and practice. We do so through our due diligence research, risk assessment at the start of each grant or project or collaboration and through our monitoring tools. Monitoring focuses on the on-going status of the project. Monitoring is an on-going process and must be done continuously. Monitoring of grants and projects is done by reporting, audited reports, monitoring visits and evaluations.
3. Contracting (formal relations) Each partner receiving financial support must be formally and legally bound to our organization by an agreement. The agreement must contain an integrity- and anti-fraud and corruption clause and refer to instructions for integrity- and financial control and reporting. The agreement must stipulate that the other party or parties is/are responsible for their integrity management and control, as well as for the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the project. The agreement ensures that the funds received are used efficiently for the purposes for which they have been granted. Last but not least, the other party or parties must implement integrity policies for the full duration of the project, and all of their employees must be aware of this policy. Additional conditions may be incorporated into the agreement to mitigate risks based on the outcome of a due diligence investigation, risk assessment or other indicators. All agreements are governed by Dutch law. In cases involving integrity violations, however, both contract and criminal laws may apply, depending on the laws of the country where integrity violations are revealed.
4. Reporting integrity violations
Within the Symi-Network we prevent integrity violations, but it is not entirely possible to prevent breaches from being made. Staff or partners/allies/participants who are victims or witnesses to any integrity breaches or violations, are encouraged to report these to our designated independent Integrity officer. Any such reports require preliminary investigation and appropriate action. The contact details are: ………………
4.1 Complaints received by the Integrity Officer (from staff, managers, complainants, partners, program participants or allies).
We encourage staff, volunteers, and program participants as well as allies to raise concerns about possible violations to our Integrity reporting point:
A complaint can be submitted: by telephone via 088 xxxxxx (accessible Monday through Friday from 08.30 - 17.00) and/or by e-mail:………………….
Then:
The complaint will be assessed in accordance with the organization's complaints procedure, including whether the nature of the complaint is admissible for consideration.
Information will be gathered on the complaint from both the complainant and the accused, to determine if the complaint is found to be possible and credible, and indeed is an integrity violation (according to our Code of Conduct).
The Integrity Officer will give advice to the Management Board about the results of the preliminary assessment, and advice about further steps to be taken. If the issue concerns a member of the Management Board, the advice will be given to the Supervisory Board. This advice takes into account the wishes of the complainant/victim. The Management Board (or if relevant the Supervisory board) will together decide what further steps of measures need to be taken, including whether additional investigation is required.
Once we receive a concern through one of our reporting channels or as soon as someone in our organization gets an indication that there could be an integrity breach or violation, a mandatory protocol is followed.
Our Investigation protocol consists of the following steps:
5.1 Phase 1: Decision whether investigation is needed:
Once a concern is received or identified where-ever in the Symi Network, the integrity officer is informed.
The integrity officer organizes a kick-start meeting. During this meeting the available information is shared. The principle here is zero-tolerance for non-action.
The integrity officer (after hearing from the relevant parties) informs the Management Board whether a Preliminary Assessment is needed. If the case involves private funding (private donors, lotteries, and major donors) the Integrity officer also informs the Supervisory Board throughout the implementation of the protocol.
5.2 Phase 2: Preliminary Assessment:
The Integrity officer installs the investigative team with a clear assignment for the preliminary investigation. The investigative team consists of expert(s) and the integrity officer. The team is led by the integrity officer. The integrity officer adds the case to the Integrity register and opens a Teams group where information is gathered and shared.
The investigative team gathers and analyses available information, including interviewing the reporter/complainant and (if relevant) the accused.
The Integrity officer shares the outcomes of the preliminary investigation with the Management Board and the designated member of the Supervisory Board, and gives advice about the further steps to be taken. What these are depends on the kind and extent of the integrity breach or violation, and on the rights and wishes of the complainant. They decide on the further process, and inform the Supervisory Board.
5.3 Phase 3: Disciplinary investigation:
A proposal for the disciplinary investigation (including process and budget) is developed by the integrity officer in consultation with the investigative team. This needs approval from the Management Board.
The Integrity officer will keep the Management Board informed how this process proceeds, who in turn informs the Supervisory Board, as well as other relevant board and committees, and/or donors depending on the project.
The integrity officer selects the appropriate (external) expert(s) to conduct the disciplinary investigation. The integrity officer supervises the investigation, monitors the progress and budget, assesses quality of work delivered and questions the investigators critically about methodology and conclusions.
The integrity officer shares the findings of the disciplinary investigation with the internal investigative team, the CFO/COO, and seeks (if relevant) external legal advice about proposed disciplinary measures.
The integrity officer advises the Management Board about the outcomes of the investigation and about the proposed measures. The Management Board decides on further steps and informs the Supervisory Board.
5.4 Phase 4: Informing external stakeholders and taking measures:
An integrity violation that has become known internally or to other organizations, stakeholders or the press needs extra attention in communications. The Integrity officer seeks advice and develops an internal and external communication strategy. This strategy takes into account the (privacy) rights of the complainant and accused and describes how the organization is dealing with the integrity violation, and which lessons are learned to prevent such violations.
The Management Board decides what disciplinary measures are to be taken based on the findings, approves the communication strategy in case of a crisis and follows the reporting procedure to the Supervisory Board.
The approved disciplinary measures are implemented. The process of implementation is led by the Integrity Officer. For every step of the approach, it is essential to supervise (with relevant managers) if the compliance to the conditions of the respective donor is strictly to the rule.
5.5 Phase 5: Document lessons learned:
The Integrity Officer is responsible for documenting lessons learnt and if needed to propose adjustments to our policy and procedure.
The SYMI NETWORK Moral Deliberations and Moresprudence Practice
At all levels of our staff make decisions. Some are morally important, in terms of our mission and the communities we work with, and the focus countries where we operate. Rights of those we work with can be affected, their interest can be at stake. It is possible that our guiding principles and aspects of our code of conduct can contradict each other. That is why we install the system of moral deliberation and learning which will help staff explore important, difficult, and doubtful decisions.
This helps everyone in the organization to implement our mission, and code of conduct in a consistent manner. During the deliberation all arguments around all those affected by a decision are collected, and weighed. Then it becomes clear what is the morally right decision and which measures can be taken to mitigate damage for some. This means the decision is morally right and therefore in accordance with justice.
This leads to consensus in a particular case, and by recording these cases we can increase our moral learning in a consistent manner: an archive or record of these moral deliberations will be the Moresprudence of the Symi Network.
The collected moral learning for (new) staff, and the explanation of moral decisions taken is important to partners and program participants, as well as, where relevant, to back-donors.
The SYMI NETWORK Fundraising policy
a. Mutual Transparency and Accountability The SYMI NETWORK Foundation and any potential donor share information about:
Their organizations, values, strategic goals and integrity policies.
Detailed information about the precise purpose of funds given and how to be used.
Agreements about the accountability responsibility, monitoring systems, and reporting agreements. This specifically means ensuring that risks and responsibilities are ‘fit for purpose’ and reasonable for both parties.
Clarity about applicable laws and regulations related to fundraising, financial management, data protection and reporting agreements relevant to ‘best practice’ in fundraising.
b. Mutual Loyalty and Respect The SYMI NETWORK Foundation and any potential donor will agree together on issues of:
Privacy, right to information, acknowledgement of the funding relationship.
Data and reporting transparency and areas of confidentiality.
Integrity policies governing possible conflicts of interest, avoidance of coercion etc.
Agreements on common communication strategies in situations of possible crisis-, conflict-, and/or political or organizational pressures.
c. Responsible spending and reporting, within the real-time risks and pressures faced: The SYMI NETWORK Foundation and any potential donor will agree together on issues of:
Responsible and reasonable spending on activities relevant to the shared program goals.
Reasonable reporting on output- and outcome indicators of the work done, including on longer-term impact indicators (in order to learn and improve agreed on strategies).
Agreement on the level of shared risks taken by the donor and the SYMI Network, including agreement on internal and external communication about problems, mitigation, and failures.
As an academy for social democracy and justice, we are here to empower and support you in actively participating in civil society and political initiatives!
Marilena Koppa, PhD, is Professor of Comparative Politics at the Department of European, International and Area Studies of Panteion University and author of several articles on Balkan Politics, minority issues, democratization, nationalism and European Security and Defence. She is an Athens Law school graduate. She obtained her Ph.D on Comparative Politics at Paris–X Nanterre University (1991). For years she worked as a special adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on issues pertaining to European integration and enlargement.
She has been a member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2014. She was the Coordinator of the S&D Group at the Subcommittee on Security and Defense and also Vice-chairperson of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee.. She has published three books on South-eastern Europe: “A Fragile Democracy: The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia between the past and the future” (Papazisis, Athens, 1994), «The minorities in the post-communist Balkans” (Nea Synora-Livanis, Athens, 1997), «The creation of states in the Balkans» (Nea Synora-Livanis, Athens, 1997). Ιn 2017 she published “CSDP: the history, the institutions, the strategies” (Patakis, Athens).
Her latest books are “The Evolution of the Common Security and Defence Policy. Critical Junctures and the quest for the EU’s Strategic Autonomy” (Palgrave McMillan, St Anthony Series, London, 2022), “The Europeanization of the Balkans” (with N. Tzifakis), (Kallipos publishers, 2024 [in Greek]).
James Ray, Board member
James Ray has worked for over fifty years in business, government, and political consulting, He has worked for investment banks and corporate strategy firms in public finance, economic development, international finance, and import-export promotion. He founded and manages a private partnership. He has worked throughout the world, particularly with focus on China, Japan, and the US.
Early in his career he worked for the US House of Representatives, Committee on the Budget. Washington, DC where he was Administrator, Task Force on the Budget Process. Directed hearings and staff studies of multi-year budget planning, federal credit activities, regulatory budget concept, and general oversight of the Budget Act.
Education: Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in Boston Massachusetts 1982. Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Asian Studies from Amherst College, Amherst Massachusetts 1974. He attended Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, and Claremont McKenna College in Claremont California 1969 to 1973.
Henry Boom, Board member
W. Henry Boom MD is Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University and Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center in Ohio, USA. For 35+ years he has been involved in Global Health. He has led multidisciplinary US Federal and Gates Foundation funded tuberculosis (TB) clinical and laboratory research studies in the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa. These studies have made major contributions not only to understanding the human immune response to M. tuberculosis but also on how to better prevent, diagnose and treat TB. His training programs have enabled the training a generation of new infectious diseases investigators and scientists in the US and abroad.
If you need more specifics/detail, can take from this:
W. Henry Boom MD was raised in the Netherlands, attended SciencesPo in Paris before coming to Amherst College in the USA where he met George Papandreou. Went on the Univ. of Rochester for medical school followed by clinical and research training in internal medicine and infectious diseases in Washington DC and Boston before joining the faculty at Case Western Reserve University in 1988.
Gerd Leipold, Board member
Dr. Gerd Leipold, 73, is the Director of Climate Transparency. Leipold studied physics in Munich and Physical Oceanography at the University of Hamburg. He gained his Ph.D. at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. His PhD advisor was Prof. Klaus Hasselmann, Nobel Prize winner for physics in 2022.
From 1982 to 1987 he was the director of Greenpeace Germany. From 2001 to 2009 he was the Executive Director of Greenpeace International.
He leads Climate Transparency, a global partnership of 16 organisations from 14 countries. Climate Transparency compares the climate action of the G20 countries.
He is Chair of the Board of the University of Applied Science, Biberach, a trustee of the Humboldt – Viadrina School of Governance and a member of the advisory board of the German development organization Welthungerhilfe.
Katarina Sinadinovska, Board member
Katerina Sinadinovska obtained degree in journalism from the St.Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje in 2008. She is currently the assistant – editor in chief of Kapital, a weekly business and political magazine for which she has been working since 2010. She is also an author and editor of the TV project “Agenda 35” broadcasted on the national public television, an educational program about the reforms that will have to be adopted during the negotiation process with the EU.
Before joining Kapital, Katerina worked as a journalist for two TV stations in Skopje – “Kanal 5” and “Alfa TV”. Earlier, from 2004 to 2006 she worked as a journalist in the newspaper Vecer.
In 2015, Katerina was one of the founders of the Council of Media Ethics of Macedonia and elected as a President of the Managing Board. In March 2018, Katerina was re-elected and given a new mandate to run the organization for the next four years.
Katerina Sinadinovska has contributed to professional trainings and conferences on media freedom, media ethics and literacy, and political and economic influence in the media sector, both in the country and abroad.
Sylvia Borren, CFO
Sylvia Borren (20-09-1950) worked all her life within and for civil society organisations, both professionally and as a volunteer.
She volunteered many years for the Dutch and global LGBTI+ and feminist movements.
She worked 5 years as project leader in Health Education, then spent nine years as an organisational consultant/trainer at De Beuk. She served on two Dutch National Government advisory committees (the national Youth Council, and the Advisory Council of International Affairs), sat on the supervisory board of a large mental health institution (Altrecht), co-chaired the Worldconnectors (a Dutch think tank), and led the 'Quality Educators for All' project for the global union ‘Education International’.
Sylvia Borren was and is part of the global anti-poverty movement as director of Oxfam Novib 1994-2008, and co-chair of the Global Call to Action against Poverty. She is now vice-chair of BRAC International, the Bangladeshi development organization.
She was director of Greenpeace Netherlands 2011- 2016, where she helped negotiate the national SER Energy Agreement, and initiated 'The Questionmark', a research organisation that assesses individual food products and supermarkets for environmental footprint, animal welfare, health and workers' rights.
Sylvia Borren is now self-employed ('Working for Justice') and senior strategist for ‘Governance & Integrity’, a company that strengthens integrity systems within government-, health-, education- and civil society organisations.
She is presently chair of the Symi Network Foundation.
Robert van Veen, CFO
Robert van Veen, CFO/COO (Chief Finance Officer and Chief Operations Officer) has the following responsibilities:
Ensures an integrated approach to financial and operational management, fitting the organizational development of this Symi Network start-up.
Is responsible (with the CEO in the Management Board) for fundraising, financial administration, quality proposals, cost-management and full reporting and accountability processes.
Is responsible for the workings of the Integrity System, and timeliness and effectiveness of the internal governance- and external accountability processes.
Robert is an interim manager with an open character and a relentlessly positive and critical mindset. He works from strategic objectives that he translates into pragmatic solutions. In changing environments, Robert is able to bridge the gap between management and the rest of the organization. He leads as a people manager where transparency is key. In addition, Robert has been an enthusiastic firefighter volunteer for almost 30 years and spends a lot of time outdoors hiking or training for triathlons.
Quote #Thisisme
“Supporting people is in my DNA. Hands on as a volunteer at the fire brigade to creating a pleasant working environment where operations and especially finance and reporting are well organized. At the same time keeping my eyes on the world around me. Every little step counts and has an impact in making a positive change to our planet.
Pepé Soomers, 59, CEO
Pepe Soomers, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer), has the following responsibilities:
As Strategic Leader develops evidence based-, forward-looking strategies relevant in fast-moving and complex changing civil and political contexts. Develops the Symi Network start-up with organizational courage, compassion, influence and authority. Develops a culture of quality, safety, experimentation, and learning.
As Cultural leader ‘lives’ the values and code of conduct of the Symi foundation, is caring and accountable, cultivates relevant collaborative relationships and networks and drives action through authority and sound judgement.
Specific responsibilities as part of the Management Board are:
- Executive leadership and organizational management - Organizational development and fundraising - External relations and communications - Financial and overall accountability - Integrity and Board governance.
Pepé (Peter-Paul) has worked in the field of psychology and personal development for many years. He has an innate interest in humans and their behaviour. He is also an Neuro Linguistic Master, an Enneagram Master, a Journey therapy Master and Conscious Coach. In his private practice he coaches people from all walks of life. He has been in the seminar business for many years, teaching personal development skills, personal leadership and communication.
He has been working as a Television Director and Producer for many years after finishing an education in ENG and Studio direction. Again he was mostly interested in the human behaviour traveling the world to interview people from all walks of life. He has made more than 25 Human Interest TV shows and documentaries.
He has also written cookbooks, theater plays and is a very enthusiastic goldsmith and creates bespoke handmade jewellery.
