Strengthening Integrity in Water and Sanitation: Evidence from Two Informal Settlements in Khulna City, Bangladesh

How do residents of informal settlements decide where to get water in informal settlements of Khulna and what are the challenges they face in doing so? Do they transparent information available to them? Is there accountability for the systems that are built in the neighborhood? And do residents have a say?

A working paper by WIN partner, the Bangladesh Water Partnership

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Download the full working paper:

• Key topics covered: Integrity assessment; water integrity risk mapping, service delivery in informal settlements and the roles of NGOs, utilities, and communities in setting them up and managing them over time; water quality and maintenance challenges; corruption challenges.

• Key findings: Residents want more transparency on their water systems, water quality, and maintenance. There are also significant accountability concerns in the settlements, including illegal abstraction linked to ineffective abstraction regulation enforcement, unlcear mandates for service provision, and absence of mechanisms to share concerns or get responses.

• Geographies: Khulna, Bangladesh

• Who should read this: Researchers and practitioners focusing on service delivery in informal settlements to understand root causes of how service challenges.

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Abstract

Access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in low-income and informal settlements in Bangladesh is constrained by governance weaknesses, lack of accountability, fragmented mandates, and uneven institutional responsiveness. This paper examines integrity-related barriers to WASH service delivery in Montu Kaloni and Nurani Mahalla in Khulna, both in the service jurisdiction of the Khulna Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (KWASA).

Applying the Transparency, Accountability, Participation, and Anti-Corruption (TAPA) framework developed by the Water Integrity Network (WIN), the study adopts a mixed-methods design combining field observations, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and structured household surveys (n = 40 per settlement). Integrity issues were assessed using a five-point Likert scale (Very low–Very high), standardized to a 1–10 scale, and subsequently aggregated through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to derive weighted integrity deficiency scores and rankings.

AHP prioritization assigns the highest normative weight to transparency (46.6%), followed by accountability (27.7%), participation (16.1%), and anti-corruption (9.6%), reflecting stakeholders’ perception of governance importance. Transparency is seen by communities as being critical for integrity in service provision, while anti-corruption actions are given the lowest rating largely because they are seen as intransigent issues that are hard to address. Aggregated deficiency results reveal a contrasting empirical pattern in informal settlements.

Across the study area, accountability-related deficiencies account for 69% of total integrity deficiency, compared to 22% under transparency, 7% under participation, and 2% under anti-corruption. Overall integrity deficiency is 2.32 times higher in Montu Kaloni than in Nurani Mahalla; specifically, Montu Kaloni records 1.99, 2.44 and 1.80 times higher deficiencies under transparency, accountability, and participation respectively, while anti-corruption-related deficiency (2%) is observed only in Montu Kaloni and is absent in Nurani Mahalla. Transparency deficiencies constitute 21% of total integrity gaps in Montu Kaloni and 24% in Nurani Mahalla, while participation deficiencies represent 7% and 9% respectively.

Resident fetching water from community tube well in Nurani Mahalla - photo courtesy of the author (Banlgadesh Water Partnership)

Issue-level AHP and Likert-based ranking clarifies the drivers of integrity deficiency. The highest-ranked issue—indiscriminate use of submersible groundwater systems—reflects weak regulatory enforcement, inadequate service coverage, and ineffective oversight of groundwater abstraction and water quality management. Political mediation required for new connections in disputed settlements ranks second, revealing dependence on informal power structures and the absence of clearly operationalized legal mandates for service provision in contested land areas. Lack of knowledge regarding grievance submission procedures and limited awareness of formal application processes indicate failures in public communication on services and institutional responsibility for ensuring that communities understand their rights and entitlements.

Collectively, these findings demonstrate that while transparency carries the highest theoretical weight, structural accountability failures—stemming from unclear mandates, land tenure constraints, weak enforcement, limited grievance redress, and fragmented institutional coordination—dominate in practice. Participation gaps reflect restricted community engagement, donor-driven planning processes, and limited awareness of civic rights, while anti-corruption concerns remain comparatively limited but embedded within broader governance weaknesses.

By presenting TAPA weightage alongside aggregated integrity deficiency and ranked issue-level evidence, the study demonstrates a clear divergence between normative governance prioritization and empirical integrity breakdown in informal settlements.

Strengthening WASH governance therefore requires integrated improvements across all TAPA dimensions, with particular emphasis on institutionalized accountability, improved transparency of service standards and tariffs, inclusive participation mechanisms, and enforceable anti-corruption safeguards to achieve equitable urban service delivery.

Shallow tube well (Lobon Panir Kall) - photo courtesy of the author (Banlgadesh Water Partnership)