Transparency, Honesty and Corruption in the Water and Sanitation Sector

Author: Laurent Stravato, Kathleen Shordt, Cor Dietvorst and Marielle Snel

In May 2005, the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre organized an e-conference forum with 175 registered participants on the topic: Transparency and honesty in the water and sanitation sector.

The focus was on finding strategies – and ways of mainstreaming these -- for greater transparency and reduced corruption in the water sector. We at IRC also hoped to meet like-minded colleagues, and to learn about their experience and ideas. This was also one of the initial activities in our work on transparency, honesty and corruption.

The introductory paper for the e-conference began by asserting that good governance and transparency can free most of the resources needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for water supply. At the beginning, questions were posted such as: What do we mean by transparency, honesty and corruption? Which benefits can come from greater transparency and honesty? Is it true that the stronger positions on governance and transparency adopted by international, bi-lateral and northern-based organisations have been largely ineffective? In the last two weeks of the conference, the discussion focused more on tools and strategies.

This article summarizes the e-conference and the final appendices show an interesting list of strategies and tools which were mentioned by those who participated. A few case studies are appended which were presented by participants from Nigeria, Kazakhstan and the Philippines.

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