That is the idea behind Pathways to Integrity, a joint initiative by SOS Children’s Villages International, SOS Children’s Villages Kenya and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Together, they are equipping children and young people with the knowledge, confidence and ethical grounding to recognize corruption, challenge it and choose integrity — in their own lives and in their communities.  

At the heart of the project is the belief that preventing corruption starts long before someone enters public office or professional life. It starts much earlier, with children and young people learning about values, integrity and the confidence to speak up. 

Building integrity from the ground up 

Through this collaboration, integrity and anti-corruption education is being integrated into learning spaces for children and young people growing up in the care and programmes of SOS Children’s Villages. The initiative draws on UNODC’s global expertise in anti-corruption education and youth empowerment, while grounding the work in the lived realities of young people.  

The Pathways to Integrity manual — developed through the partnership — provides practical, age-appropriate activities that help participants explore questions of ethics, fairness and responsibility. In workshops, children and young people learn to recognize corruption, discuss its impact and consequences, and identify what each person can do to promote integrity and strengthen trust in their own environment. 

“Corruption begins from us, not the people up there,” one young participant reflected during a workshop in Kenya. “So when we tend to deal with corruption, we forget to deal with it from the root cause.”  

A partnership that listens to young people 

The collaboration is part of UNODC’s GRACE (Global Resource for Anti-Corruption Education and Youth Empowerment) initiative, which promotes prevention through education and meaningful youth participation. Rather than treating young people as passive recipients of information, the initiative positions them as partners and changemakers.  

For SOS Children’s Villages, this work is closely linked to its federation-wide commitment to safeguarding and to ensuring that resources are used in the best interests of children and young people. Anti-corruption is not only about compliance systems — it is also about nurturing a culture of integrity that children and young people can carry into adulthood.  

“We are committed to take action and empower children and young people to join us in the fight against corruption,” says Thomas Tschiggerl, Head of Anti-Corruption & Asset Protection, SOS Children’s Villages International. 

The partnership has already brought together nearly 200 contributors — including around 120 children and young people — to shape and test the materials. A key milestone was a youth-focused kick-off event in 2024 at the UN compound in Nairobi, where participants from several programme locations came together to explore how they can promote integrity in their own communities. 

“It was impressive to see how committed they were to work for a corruption-free Kenya. They expressed their full engagement towards the cause,” said Chiara Massaroni of UNODC who co-facilitated the kick-off Kenya workshop with young people.  

From everyday experiences to collective action

For many young people, corruption is not an abstract concept — it is part of daily life. 

Maureen Mwihaki, who grew up at the SOS Children’s Villages in Nairobi and is now in her final year at Moi University’s Nairobi Campus studying Communication and Public Relations, shared in a recent online workshop how she sees corruption play out in small but constant ways. “When using public transport, the driver has to hand over money to traffic officers to allow them to continue the journey,” she explained. “If they don’t give, they will always find something to hold against them.”  

She also spoke about the frustration young people face when looking for work. “You either get a job opportunity by luck or you know someone. There’s no in between,” she said, describing how corruption can feel normalized and unavoidable. 

Workshops like those under Pathways to Integrity create space to unpack these realities. Through role plays, discussions and real-life examples, young participants reflect on how corruption affects their schools, families, workplaces and communities — and how integrity can start with their own choices. 

“To fight corruption, we have to move beyond temporary fixes; we need to fix the broken systems that make people choose between survival and integrity,” says Maureen.   

“It’s easy to point fingers at the government, but change has to start in our own daily lives. If we want a future without bribes and shortcuts, we have to be the ones brave enough to walk the talk today.” 
 

Young people as leaders 

A message emerging from the workshops is that young people are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but also the changemakers of today. 

Participants have already begun turning ideas into action: proposing integrity clubs in schools and colleges, using sports and creative arts to raise awareness, and leveraging social media to speak out about corruption and promote ethical behaviour among their peers.  

“It’s about empowering the next generation of young leaders to take action against corruption, to become the guardians of integrity of the future,” says Bianca Kopp, Coordinator, GRACE Initiative, UNODC.  

Next steps are now focused on expanding the reach of Pathways to Integrity. Training-of-trainers sessions are being rolled out to equip facilitators with the skills and confidence to lead workshops with children and young people in their own communities. As the initiative grows, ongoing feedback from participants and facilitators will help strengthen and adapt the materials, supporting a gradual expansion of integrity education across SOS Children’s Villages programmes worldwide. 

By investing in children and young people, the partnership between SOS Children’s Villages and UNODC is helping to build a culture where integrity is not the exception, but the expectation. In that shift — from bystanders to active guardians of integrity — lies one of the most powerful tools in the global fight against corruption. 

Besides English, the Pathways to Integrity manual is available in French, Spanish and Portugues