The Water Integrity Network’s General Assembly online meetings included official GA Members such as the OECD, GIZ, SIWI, Sida, Transparency International and a dozen other kindred key global players. These were held from the 18th to the 20th of November and highlighted the progress made in 2020, while offering preliminary showings in vital, new and continuing projects for 2021.
On the ground projects
Despite the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 WIN was able to continue work on the ground:
- In Bangladesh, with three utilities and numerous school WASH programmes.
- In Kenya, with local partners to deliver a Training of Trainers for 18 people, and 16 partners trained on the Integrity Management Toolbox (IMT) for Small Water Supply Systems (SWSS).
- In Mexico, a further Training was done with the IMT for SWSS, and an integrity assessment tool for water utilities was successfully piloted.
- Further projects were delivered in South Sudan, Honduras, Uruguay and Benin.
Executive Director Barbara Schreiner explained that, our Annual Plan and Budget for 2021 will continue to allow us to remain stable in staffing, and deliver targets as expected. WIN may be able to add to existing work-plans if fundraising in the pipeline is successful.
Leadership change
WIN’s former Board Chair and now first Honorary GA Member, Mr. Ravi Narayanan, is stepping down, and was thanked for his years of leadership, which started from the very beginnings of WIN:
“It wasn’t so long ago that corruption was not a word that was spoken in polite society. This changed when WIN was born. I’m very happy to be leaving WIN in such good hands, despite the large challenges we face.”
– Ravi Narayanan, 2020
We would like to heartily welcome Dr. Letitia A Obeng, the newly elected Chair of the Water Integrity Network (WIN). Letitia is a Water Supply, Sanitation and Water Management professional with 40 years’ experience. She served with the World Bank in managerial and director positions on water management and sustainable development. Letitia has served in leadership roles in WaterAid America, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. She holds a PhD in public health and water resources engineering from Imperial College, University of London.
The General Assembly unanimously elected the additional Members:
- Dick van Ginhoven, Secretary of Supervisory Board, (2nd term)
- Peter Conze, Member of General Assembly and member of Supervisory Board (1st term),
- IWMI General Assembly Member Nov 2020 – Nov 2023 (re-election)