Transparency and water

Water Integrity Network (WIN)

This network formed in 2006, stimulates anti-corruption activities in the water sector locally, nationally and globally. It promotes solutions-oriented action and coalition-building between civil society, the private and public sectors, media and governments.

Web site: http://www.waterintegritynetwork.net

UNICORN – Global Unions Anti-corruption Network – Sector Water

This site provides an overview of major (international) water companies and corruption-related news. Overviews by company and by date.

Web site: http://www.againstcorruption.org/countrydetailsAll.asp?sectortopid=7

The Center for Public Integrity - The Water Barons

This web site is the result of a year-long investigation in 2003 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on the growth of three private water utility companies - Suez, Vivendi Environnement. and Thames Water/RWE AG. The investigation was conducted amid fears that control over water resources could soon be taken over by a handful of monopolistic corporations. It concludes that the enormous expansion of these companies could not have been possible without the World Bank and other multilateral financial institutions. The ICIJ investigation focused on the activities of these companies in South Africa, Colombia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, France, the United States and Canada. The South African study claims there is a direct link between the policy of full cost recovery and disconnections and the 2000 cholera outbreak in Dolphin Coast, where water supply was privatised in 1988.

Web site: http://www.icij.org/water/

World Water Week 2005 - Seminar - Can We Meet International Water Targets Without Fighting Corruption?

Proceedings of the seminar held in Stockholm on 21 August 2005. Includes key-note presentations from Transparency International and IRC, and case studies from Lesotho, India, Indonesia and Colombia. The seminar was convened by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Swedish Water House, Transparency International (TI) and the Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP).

Web site: http://www.siwi.org/downloads/downswswww.html

Water Governance Facility

Web site of the UNDP Water Governance Facility at SIWI (WGF), a programme developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). It is funded jointly by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and UNDP. The programme supports developing countries to improve water governance.

The web site provides links and resources on the following two main themes:

Improving water governance reform

• decentralisation of and participation in water decision making
• fighting corruption
• partnership choices
• clarifying roles of water institutions
• transboundary water cooperation

Improving water governance implementation

• building knowledge and capacity
• dialoguing and network
• financing and investment choices

Web site: http://www.watergovernance.org

WEDC - Accountability arrangements to combat corruption using partnerships

Research project web site. The purpose of this project is to improve governance through the use of accountability arrangements to combat corruption in the delivery of infrastructure services in urban and rural contexts, with an emphasis on partnering approaches. It is concerned with such infrastructure services as water supply, sanitation, drainage, access roads and paving, solid waste management, street lighting and community buildings. Based on case studies from countries in South Asia, Southern Africa and Latin America, guiding principles for accountability arrangements to combat corruption in service delivery will be developed.

The project runs from 1 July 2004 until 1 March 2007, and is managed by the Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) at Loughborough University, UK, with funding (GBP 230,481) from the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

Web site: http://wedc.lboro.ac.uk/projects/new_projects3.php?id=191