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ONLINE COURSE Introductory level. Self paced (3 modules, 12 hours) Coming soon More details coming soon Who is this course for? Political decision-makers, professionals, civil society advocates, regulatory entities, and water and sanitation utility staff. Students and researchers in social and technical disciplines. Urban planners, engineers, and architects. Language English and Spanish Free Access Access to the course content and activities is completely free. Optional paid certification Participants who successfully complete and pass the course can obtain a certificate of completion upon payment of a fee.

Integrity indicators and reporting frameworks for regulators to supervise service providers. WHEN TO USE IT To raise awareness on integrity risks and their negative impact on the performance of service providers and show paths for building integrity To incentivise water and sanitation service providers for integrity To benchmark and set standards for crucial integrity measures that can benefit service providers HOW IT WORKS The indicator framework can be used by regulators with input from water service providers under their purview. HOW IT WAS DEVELOPED The indicator framework has been developed by the Consortium for Integrity in Latin America (WIN, IVL, and cewas) with support from the Inter-American Development Bank.

by Savithri Sellapperumage; Barbara Schreiner, Executive Director, Water Integrity Network; Aaron Salzburg, CEO, The American Water Resources Association; Nick Hepworth, Strategic Advisor, Water Witness International; Nchedi Moripe Photo credit: David Yarasca / Salud con lupa. Aerial view of the Ica region of Peru shows agro-export agricultural fields irrigated through extensive groundwater pumping, juxtaposed with neighbourhood communities facing scarce and contaminated water supplies. In a previous blog titled Unequal Waters: Why water poverty is a problem of power, not governance failure, it was emphasised that the water crisis goes beyond a crisis of political will, technical and fiscal capacity, or governance. It is rather the result of structural and systemically reinforced inequalities, driven by unequal access to power and a failure of accountability. Six mechanisms, namely; political exclusion, resource capture, rights denial, knowledge suppression, process capture and social reproduction, form a self-reinforcing loop that traps communities in water insecurity across generations. While these mechanisms help diagnose the underlying conditions, what could be the treatment? The three-part seminar series at Stockholm Water Week 2026 attempted to address these reinforcing mechanisms by setting out principles for just water transformations. These principles moving beyond proposing improved efficiency in the continuation of current systems, urging us to rather address the existing power structures. The principles address the need to change who holds power, where resources flow, whose knowledge counts, and who is accountable to whom. These ideas are capture in eight principles; six directly address the mechanisms of the Inequality Trap, while the remaining two look beyond the water sector and push us to reflect on our own roles, assumptions, and responsibilities in shaping just water futures. The eight principles: Shift power. Put people experiencing water insecurity at the centre of decisions that affect them. Move beyond consultation towards meaningful representation, shared power, community leadership and accountability. Allocate fairly. Direct water, finance and infrastructure toward people and places with the greatest need, not those with the greatest influence. Today, unconnected households often pay multiple folds more for water than wealthier, networked communities. Make rights real. Indigenous communities, and those in informal housing are rendered invisible and often have no legal standing to challenge utilisation and allocation of their own water. We need to strengthen equitable enforcement, and accountability is what turns a right on paper into a right in practice. Democratise knowledge. Hydrological monitoring gaps leave the most vulnerable communities invisible in the data that shapes investment decisions. In order to close that gap, we must validate lived experiences and Indigenous knowledge alongside technical expertise, and enable these invisible data to be accessible. Make participation count. Multi-stakeholder platforms often legitimise decisions that have already been made, while barriers of class and language exclude the communities most affected. Participation has to be judged by ability to influence, not attendance. Break the cycle. Water insecurity follows gender, class and caste systems, and geography affecting marginalised communities through generations. As a result, women in marginalised communities are mainly responsible for collecting water and may even be denied access to public water systems such as the Dalit communities in India. Breaking that cycle means connecting water policies and action, to health, social protection, land rights and historical legacies. Turn the lens on ourselves. Inequalities are embedded and maintained in institutions and systems. This does not exempt us from reflecting on our own ways of working. Who gets funded? Who leads? Whose expertise counts, and in which language? The water sector’s funding strcutures, conferences, research and networks can reproduce the very inequalities we are trying to solve. Align with other struggles. Water insecurity is shaped by forces outside the water sector. Historical dispossession, concentration of power, lack of accountablity, and an unequal global political economy in which trade, tax, and debt regulations favour profits over water rights. These issues cannot be fixed with tools within the water sector alone. Solving them requires us to build alliances and cross-sectoral commitments on, for example, tax justice, trade rules, land, and labour rights. How does this look like in practice? Applying these principles looks different depending on different actors. For governments, it means reforming trax, trade regulations and subsidies that produce water insecurities, while protecting and expanding civic space and platforms that allow communities to hold those in power accountable. For donors and finance institutions, it means supporting governments' ability to realise the human rights to water and sanitation, recognising that these burdens are often linked to past development financing models. For business and corporations, it means adopting water justice not as an act of philanthropy or corporate social responsibility but a condition of legitimate business, and paying the full social and ecological costs of water use, rather than externalising the costs onto communities, the environment or future generations. For civil society and NGO’s it means, building collective power and investing in community agency to claim rights that exist on paper. For researchers, it means protecting scientific independence, academic freedom and recognising lived knowledge as evidence in its own. And for those working in the water sector, it means accepting where own instituions concentrate power rather than sharing it. However, the challenge of application comes at a precarious moment. Cuts to development assistance and geopolitical turmoil across the globe have exposed communities to further vulnerabilities and climate change is deepening insecurities for those least responsible for it. Water inequalities, if built by systems and institutions around us, should strive to dismantle them too, but only if we are willing to look beyond the water sector at the same time turn the lens on ourselves first. These ideas are brought together in the background paper Forging a Fair Water Future produced as part of the seminar series held at Stockholm. We invite you to engage with the paper by sending your comments to: nickhepworth@waterwitness.org

View our Publications to learn about global water integrity, discover integrity assesment best practices and case studies from around the world. Development of Online Courses TURN YOUR IDEA INTO ONLINE LEARNING xxx From knowledge to learning Who we work with? Camilla Jones CMS More than just slides Interactive activities Helvetica Light is an easy-to-read font, with tall and narrow letters, that works well on almost every site.

The Water Integrity Network is putting integrity at the heart of water management and the delivery of water and sanitation services. Clean water needs clean governance Integrity can make water and sanitation more resilient, more equitable, and less vulnerable to corruption, and malpractice. Join us in advocating for integrity in water governance to ensure clean water management and services, for all . FIND OUT MORE News SEE ALL POSTS Upcoming Our next Water Integrity Global Outlook (WIGO) will be all about water integrity and climate adaptation. Share your insight or stay in the loop by contacting the research team. GET IN TOUCH Water integrity? It's essential Corruption and integrity issues happen everywhere and in all sectors, but in water and sanitation, the impact is particularly dramatic, for people's lives, for communities, economies, and ecosystems. We can change this, with integrity . We can ensure resources are used honestly, where intended and most needed. We can fix the leaks and systematic weaknesses that leave infrastructure at breaking point and pollution unchecked. We can promote Transparency, Accountability, Participation, and Anti-corruption. Stand with us for change. Get training TRAINING Understand integrity risks ASSESSMENTS Strengthen your work with integrity TOOLS Become a partner NETWORK Newsletter Sign up to our newsletter First name Last name Email SUBSCRIBE Thanks for subscribing! Partner network Our network, events, and tools are open and available to all. We welcome collaboration, questions, and feedback. Organisations that wish to show their commitment to improving integrity in water and sanitation management and actively collaborate on integrity programmes are also invited to partner with us formally. Take a stand for water integrity: become a formal WIN partner now. JOIN WIN

Water is life. Sanitation is dignity. Don't let corruption get in the way. Donate today. Support the Water Integrity Network to put integrity at the heart of water and sanitation management and ensure clean and sustainable water and sanitation services, for all . Together we can ensure financing for water and sanitation reaches end users, we can strengthen water and sanitation institutions and programmes, and protect water and sanitation systems in the face of climate change. Your donations specifically go to: Local partners in Bangladesh, Kenya, Mexico, and Uganda to raise awareness and hold stakeholders accountable for their promises on water and sanitation. Research on corruption and integrity risks, for partners to develop evidence-based and effective strategies against the issues draining sector resources. Practical support to water and sanitation service providers, utilities, institutions, and water committees, to take action for integrity, publish transparent information and engage with users, or address conflicts of interest and procurement weaknesses. Training and knowledge sharing to empower water and sanitation professionals on integrity and to strengthen institutions. By supporting our work, you contribute to a world where water is managed for resilience and everyone has fair and sustainable access to water and sanitation. Contact us Discuss strategy and long-term funding: Barbara Schreiner, WIN Executive Director Alt Moabit 91b, 10559 Berlin, Germany info@win-s.org +49 30 809 246 130 WIN e.V. is non-profit association registered in Germany. We have a current Equivalency Determination (ED) certificate. Accountability is core to who we are: we are open about our finances and publish yearly results and audit reports. Thank you Your support is changing the course of the water and sanitation sectors. "WIN is a niche network of partners that expand and share knowledge on the integrity issues facing the water sector. This is crucial input to national and international discourses on integrity and water and sanitation. WIN achieves impact that Sida assesses is well beyond its small size." Ylva Schwinn, Programme Specialist - WASH, Sida (2024)