Letter from the WIN Secretariat

Dear members and partners,

It is about time to provide you with a short update on where we stand in developing the action programme of WIN. But let me first mention how much we appreciate the pro-active attitudes of some members and groups in countries such as Nigeria, Liberia, Honduras, Uganda, Bangladesh, Nepal, just to name a few where water integrity action is taking off. We also greatly appreciate the interest expressed and programmes proposed by other global networks and international organizations to engage in combating corruption, together with WIN as a network, and not just the secretariat. Finally, it may be important to mention that our strategic partnership with the leading anti-corruption movement Transparency International has entered in a new phase through the signature of a new agreement. We are thankful for this, and perceive it as a re-confirmation of the importance of WIN as a strong independent voice and coalition for integrity in the water sector.

We at the secretariat are also aware that some of you who really wish to engage in action may have the feeling that things are going too slowly. We feel the same, but have had our hands tied as long as new financial resources were not available. The WIN secretariat has so far worked with the equivalent of about two full time staff positions. Now most of the initial funds needed have been approved and funds have started to be made available which allows us to expand the secretariat to about 5-6 full time staff equivalents.

From March/April 2009 onwards we have started to give the highest priority to stimulating country based water integrity action, and we hope you will see rather soon that we are serious about this, even though we cannot concretely support actions in all countries at the same time ourselves. Partnerships and fundraising in support of country based water integrity initiatives and coalitions will be key to laying a basis for scaling up the actions through our network and through strategic partnerships at country level as well as in the regions.

About membership

Those who have signed the code of conduct for WIN membership and who are communicating with us and with each other to ensure that information flows and efforts are coordinated, are considered the “real” members of WIN. These are about a hundred in number, but about 50 are corporate members or networks and represent great potential for outreach and advocacy.

We hope some of those who hesitated to sign for good reasons will continue to engage in water integrity action and we are trying to provide the necessary tools and information as we move forward. These are about six hundred in number. We will contact the full membership once again to ensure that those who would like to stay full members will seize the opportunity to meet the obligations, and others to withdraw their membership or express their interest to stay on the mailing list.

Meanwhile, most information on the web site is accessible for all, but we may at some stage develop an intranet function for active “full” members.

There may also be organizations and individuals who signed up for WIN out of interest, but who are not willing to and cannot adhere to our values and principles by signing a code of conduct. We invite you to let is know what is stopping you!

About progress

As you know, the Strategic Framework for Action 2009-2015 was approved end 2008 to ensure follow-up to the first phase of WIN. Based on this framework, and a new funding proposal 2009-2013, the three original donors (BMZ, DGIS, SIDA) are currently providing new financial support for WIN, and Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) has joined the donor consortium.

In general the original focus with the three areas of activities (advocacy, networking and supporting water integrity action on the ground) was the right one. This has helped to develop a good position for the implementation of a strategy for broadening impact in countries. During years to come, WIN will shift its focus more strongly from international advocacy to country based action, but a large degree of continuity will be ensured with regard to the original areas of activity.

The WIN International Steering Committee has changed in composition. During 2008, two new members were elected by active WIN members. Gradually, WIN-ISC members are stepping back to be replaced by elected or co-opted members. In this process active representation of global partners and a balance between different regions is being sought. The WIN secretariat has gradually developed a stronger role and currently provides leadership and coordination to develop and guide the implementation of the WIN programme.

With higher visibility of WIN and increased awareness of the need to address corruption and water integrity issues across the board, various forms of partnership are evolving.

After some delays in setting up a functional secretariat, good results were achieved during 2007 and 2008. An important achievement was the publication and launch of the Global Corruption Report (GCR 2008) which was widely disseminated, including French and Spanish translations in electronic form. WIN participated in various panel discussions around the GCR and corruption in the water sector and achieved good press coverage. These activities contributed highly to increased visibility and recognition of WIN as a leading platform on mitigating corruption in the water sector.

The Stockholm World Water Week

I have the pleasure to invite you to look at the full report concerning our participation and presence including contacts with e-media. We had several WIN meeting parallel to the main conference programme. Our WIN stand was one of the liveliest of the exhibition area and hundreds of people came to express there thoughts and feelings about water corruption. One of the outcomes is a collective painting expressing this in colours. I also like to invite you to have a look at the WINning photo of the contest Water Integrity Visualised as well of those of the finalists. We thank all those who submitted photos for the contest with all our heart, and would like to mention that the WIN secretariat would have been unable to choose the best ones. This is why we had a jury composed of professionals!

We hope you will continue to support the fight against corruption in the water sector and look forward to working with you.

With best regards,

Teun Bastemeijer
WIN Manager

Further Information:

WIN at the World Water Week 2009

Letter from the WIN Secretariat

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