Corruption and Integrity

Water is a foundation for development. Without it, there’s no economic growth, no industry, agriculture or cities. Disease and infant mortality thrive. The hours lost daily fetching water keep women out of work and children out of school. By diverting resources from where they’re most needed, corruption exacerbates the already difficult challenges.

Corruption in water costs lives. Investing in water infrastructure and governance means jobs, agriculture, health, education and environmental protection. It’s a straightforward path to progress; yet, too often the path is blocked by corruption. That’s why there is a need to address corruption risks, increase transparency and accountability in the water sector. Coalition building and partnerships are essential to generate knowledge, capacity and awareness to tackle corruption in water. Read more on corruption in the water sector.

 

Water Integrity Tools

The Annotated Water integrity Scan is a diagnostic tool for multi-stakeholder workshops, and has three main objectives:

  • Establish an overview of the integrity of different sub-sectors of the water sector, to highlight areas which are vulnerable to corruption

  • Identify priority areas for action to enhance water integrity

  • Increase awareness about the water integrity situation and stimulate improvement

The tool includes an implementation guide on the organisation, preparation and implementation of an AWIS workshop, which describes each step of the process and makes suggestions for follow-up.

 

Organisations working on Water Integrity

Transparency International (TI) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to fighting corruption. Active in nearly 100 countries and on the international stage, TI raises awareness of the devastating effects of corruption, and works with governments, businesses and international organisations to tackle corruption.

Gateway is about collecting, sharing and expanding knowledge on corruption assessment. It allows those who wish to measure corruption to match their needs with existing diagnostic tools.

Transparency International India (TII) is the accredited India chapter of Transparency International and is part of the Asia Pacific Forum comprising 20 nations. TII is a non-government, non-party and not-for-profit organisation of Indian citizens with professional, social, industrial or academic experience seeking to promote transparent and ethical governance and to eradicate corruption.

The UNDP Water Governance Facility at SIWI (WGF) provides strategic water governance support to developing countries to advance socially equitable, environmentally sustainable and economically efficient management of water resources and water and sanitation services to improve the livelihoods of poor people.

Tool sheets: A brief about various tools for assessing integrity in the water sector.

 

Integrity pacts: This pact is to ensure integrity in procurement processes, and has two main components:

  • a written agreement between the government and all bidders to refrain from bribery and collusion,

  • a monitoring system that provides for independent oversight and increased government accountability of the public contracting process.

Integrity pacts implementation guides have been developed specifically for the water sector.

 

The advocacy guide is a toolbox for advocating and campaigning on water integrity action.

 

The guide comprises five modules with various engaging, stimulating ideas and hands-on exercises for individuals and groups who want to get started in advocating for water integrity.

 

TAP risks

TAP risks is a tool that allows gaining a better understanding of the integrity of water service provision. The tool identifies relevant stakeholders and assesses the integrity of their relationships in terms of transparency, accountability and participation (TAP). 

 

Citizen report cards

Citizen report cards are an interactive learning tool is designed to assist individuals and organizations interested in carrying out a Citizen Report Card (CRC) study in the water and sanitation sector.

The methodology collects user’s actual feedback on public services on selective indicators to make the provider accountable for any lapses or the poor condition of services. The commonly used indicators are access, usage, quality/reliability, hidden costs (including bribery) and level of satisfaction.

 

Useful Links

Reports, articles, papers

Videos

Photos, slideshows

Training manual on water integrity

This training manual deals with the issue of integrity and anti-corruption in the water sector – one of the least addressed areas in the governance of water resources and services. It has been developed to assist in building institutional capacity, with water managers and other water decision-makers as the primary target group.

 

Water Management Transparency Index

This tool is designed to evaluate the level of transparency of water management. It is based on 80 indicators which look at:

  • general information about the relevant water agency,

  • public relations transparency in planning processes,

  • transparency in the use of water resources,

  • financial transparency, and

  • transparency in contracting

In addition, sase information sheets and tool sheets to support the use of this tool have been developed.

 

Corruption assessment in basic services

Corruption assessment in basic services are tools and methods which aim to diagnose corruption and/or corruption risks in the delivery of education, health and water and sanitation services. The scope of tools includes analyses of:

  • the overall political/governance situation in a sector

  • the flow of resources from government to service providers

  • the role of and relationships between different actors (e.g. service providers, service users, government officials)

  • specific processes within the broader system (e.g. health insurance, university admissions) and

  • particular corruption problems (e.g. teacher absenteeism, informal payments to doctors)

ASHWAS manual: This process handbook  is to serve as a useful template for those planning to embark on a participatory household water and sanitation survey. The handbook has detailed out the scope of planning and execution along with the resources, skills and time needed at each stage of the survey.

Water Integrity Network (WIN)

The Water Integrity Network (WIN) is an action-oriented coalition of organisations and individuals promoting water integrity to reduce and prevent corruption in the water sector.

WIN’s vision is a world with equitable and sustained access to water and a clean environment, which is no longer threatened by corruption, greed, dishonesty and willful malpractice. 

WIN’s mission is to increase integrity levels and reduce corruption in the water sector through a pro-poor and pro-equity focus. It works with partners and influences decision-makers to facilitate active multi-stakeholder coalitions and to build capacities for the use of tools and strategies for water integrity at all levels.

WIN’s work does not just concern preventing corruption, a big enough challenge in itself, but also ensuring that the poor participate meaningfully in decision-making processes and benefit in particular from the solutions put in place.

The WIN secretariat is hosted by Transparency International (TI) in Berlin, Germany. To know more about WIN, please visit: http://www.waterintegritynetwork.net. Also read WINs blog.

 

 

Featured Articles
October 21, 2019 In this interview, Joy talks about his work as an activist working in rural Maharashtra, and how he came to work on water conflicts in India.
KJ Joy speaks at a felicitation for the late Professor Ramaswamy Iyer.
September 30, 2019 The recently concluded 4 day conference in Bangalore looked at the current state of global water resource challenges & future pathways to achieve the SDGs, while ensuring equity in access to all.
Charles Vorosmarty, Chair, COMPASS Initiative, Water Future at the opening plenary on advanced water system assessments to address water security challenges of the 21st century.
September 26, 2019 A workshop in Bangalore explored water ethics and how it can be applied to water management.
From left to right - Siddharth Krishnan (ATREE), David Groenfeldt (Water Culture Institute), Sara Ahmed (University of Cambridge), Veena Srinivasan (ATREE), KJ Joy (SOPPECOM)
August 13, 2019 Magsaysay award winner & founder-editor of PARI, P Sainath analyses India's water scarcity, the agrarian crisis & farmer suicides, before asking: what can we do about it?
Picture: The semi-arid regions of the Moyar-Bhavani River basin in Tamil Nadu. Picture credit: Prathigna Poonacha, Tanvi Deshpande; Indian Institute for Human Settlements from India Water Portal on Flickr. Picture used for representational purposes only
June 28, 2019 An analysis of the new Nal se Jal scheme, promising drinking water to every household in India by 2024.
Image for representational purposes only. Image credit: India Water Portal on Flickr
Open Confusion: Charba and Coca Cola
The Uttarakhand State Government leased land to Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages but the villagers of Charba were completely in the dark about this. Why is there a lack of transparency? Posted on 10 Aug, 2013 08:36 PM

Charba is a small village in Uttarakhand with a population of 10,000. It is located in the 'Vikas Nagar' area just beyond Dehradun - a section that the government has denoted an industrial area. This little village shot to fame when Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages (HCCB) decided to build a plant there.

Radha Behen addresses the villagers
IAS officer suspended for targeting illegal sand mining
News roundup - IAS officer suspended in UP, groundwater contaminated by gold mines and the number of households with improved sanitation rises. Posted on 04 Aug, 2013 05:01 PM

IAS officer in Uttar Pradesh suspended for action against sand mining

Sand mining near the Yamuna river
Water for sale - to the highest bidder!
Water is a natural resource that should be 'free' for all or at least easily accessible but why is India allowing more and more companies to privatise it? Posted on 25 Jul, 2013 01:02 PM

Did you know that the planet would die in three days if it ran out of water? Water is a basic necessity and the United Nations recognized the right to it as a basic human right in 2010. Isn’t it ironic that we are still allowing a few utility companies privatise it, speculate over it and control it?

Rising cost of water Source: K.N. Balraj
Free the river! Let it flow!
Flooding in Assam caused by embankments on the mighty Brahmaputra is routine news. It makes the headlines every year but not for long. Political apathy however, continues. Posted on 25 Jul, 2013 12:46 AM

Floods are an annual event in the north-eastern state of Assam. The newspapers expect it at this time of year, every year. For the world, this is routine, something not even worth a front-page story like the Uttarakhand floods maybe because it does not involve pilgrims or religion.

The Brahamputra in spate (Photos: Amita Bhaduri)
Fighting the good fight using the Right to Information Act (RTI)
Sanjay Jaiswal of the Lok Vikas Samiti educates Mehdiganj (near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh) to use the RTI in their fight against Coca Cola. Posted on 20 Jul, 2013 11:21 AM

What exactly does a 'campaign' look like? What do people actually do when they 'protest' against something? And how do the protesters get hold of all the facts that they quote? These questions surfaced every time I read about a campaign or a protest on environmental or human rights issues but I never got any answers that made me wiser. Until this summer.

Sanjay Jaiswal in Mehdiganj
Elitist Delhi scores low on environmental awareness
Urban policies seem to favour the wealthy; they don't bear the brunt of urbanization as much as the poor. Posted on 23 Jun, 2013 08:18 AM

Environmentalist Robert Swan, the first person to walk the North and South Pole, was in Delhi last year. He launched phase IV of Project Search, which aimed to promote environmental awareness and sustainable lifestyles among students. Swan noted that not many Delhiites scored high on topics of environmental awareness.

Yamuna in Delhi, Image: PEACE
The story of how blissful ignorance allows Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages to deprive Mehdiganj, Varanasi of its water
What does 'being water positive' really mean for the villages where manufacturing plants are situated ? Posted on 01 Apr, 2013 11:39 PM

 

Bottled drinks are commonplace and we often reach for them without a thought. We may even feel good about our purchase as we read about the companies' commitment to water security' printed on the label. 

 

What does 'being water positive' really mean for the villages where manufacturing plants are situated ? This article examines the case of one such plant in Mehdiganj, PO Benipur, Arajiline block, Dist Varanasi and its effect on the groundwater levels in the area. The village has led an agitation against 4 specific negative impacts of the plant, acheiving moderate but measurable success.

This year, the movement comes to a crisis point as despite a warning by the Central Groundwater Development Board, the plant applies for a four-fold expansion.  

Online course: Increasing transparency, accountability and participation in the water sector, Water Integrity Network, April - June 2013 - Register by March 31, 2013
Posted on 16 Mar, 2013 05:45 PM

WIN Logo

About Water Integrity Network

The Water Integrity Network (WIN), hosted by Transparency International, was formed in 2006 to respond to increasing concerns among water and anti-corruption stakeholders over corruption in the water sector.

About the course

In partnership with the Virtual School of UNDP, WIN is organizing online course on increasing transparency, accountability and participation in the water sector.

The course targets water sector practitioners interested in deepening their knowledge and sharing their experiences in the area of anticorruption; and people working on projects and initiatives in the water sector related to anti-corruption, transparency and human development issues in the water sector.

Conference report: The Anil Agarwal Dialogue on "Excreta does matter", organised by Centre for Science and Environment on 4-5 March 2013 at New Delhi
Where will India get its fresh water from in the coming years ? What is the state of the sewage system in the country ? Posted on 12 Mar, 2013 03:23 PM

A close examination of these two issues shows that the water and sewage challenge is already grave and could get worse. With this as the backdrop, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a public interest research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, organised a two day conference called the Anil Agarwal Dialogue on “Excreta does matter”. The conference took place at the Jacaranda Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi on 4 and 5 March 2013.

The dialogue aimed at furthering the agenda of CSE’s seventh State of India’s Environment report titled Excreta Matters. This report is a comprehensive survey of the situation of water and wastewater management in 71 Indian cities. The study found that most cities lack a basic policy direction on how best to tackle issues of demand, supply and treatment of water, and of management of sewage. 

The Dialogue being the first of its kind brought together a wide range of professionals, activists, practitioners, policy makers, academicians, researchers and administrators from the water sector. The event was aimed at drawing attention on the critical issues of how cities will get affordable and sustainable water and waste systems that can supply to all and take back and treat the sewage of all.

CSE Conference logo

How have India's flagship development programmes fared ? - Budget briefs on the TSC, JNNURM and MGNREGS by the Accountability Initiative
Read this article to know how the government has spent its money for three of its flagship programmes. Posted on 12 Mar, 2013 11:40 AM

Government of India’s development programmes are aimed to bring in much required inclusive development and pave a way towards an equitable and socially just society. With this motive the Centre had introduced several programmes in social sectors and allocated a fixed amount for achieving the set goals.

An analysis on the performance of the programmes shows how far the targets have been achieved, the shortcomings and the steps that are to be taken to strengthen the programmes. 

Accountability Initiative logo