1. Introduction

In public affairs and whenever there are transactions between people there exists scope for corruption and dishonesty. Well-intentioned plans to improve infrastructure and services can be disrupted and undermined by corrupt and dishonest practices at any level of administration.

Over the past decade this has been increasingly recognised by national governments and by a range of national and international agencies. Recognition has in turn inspired a growing focus on addressing the issues although, to date, this has been more often reflected in expressions of intent rather than in the more difficult task of bringing about practical changes to the structures of governance to encourage honesty and transparency. With one or two isolated exceptions such advances as have been made have not been within the water and sanitation sector on which this TOP concentrates.

Rather more emphasis is placed here on water than on sanitation but the TOP clearly illustrates the severe adverse impacts that corrupt systems can inflict upon the WASH sector as a whole. Generally it is the poor who suffer most and there is good reason to believe that concerted action against corruption could contribute as much to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water and sanitation as could pleas for additional resources.

Within the sector corrupt practices can occur at any point in the service delivery chain. At high level it may be seen in collusion between government officials and contractors over the award of contracts and, at the other end of the scale, customers may, for example, have to bribe low level officials for water connections or to avoid disconnections. In Appendix 2 the TOP includes a comprehensive list of typical dishonest practices that might be engaged in by a variety of sector actors, from the various grades of technical and professional staff, managers, elected and unelected officials and up to the staff of the donor agencies and government bodies.

Definitions of important terms used throughout the TOP are listed in Appendix 1. Central to the topic are the terms corruption, honesty and transparency, which are taken in this context to mean:

• Corruption - the abuse of entrusted power for private gain;
• Honesty - trying to work and act in a way that reflects known best practices
• Transparency - sharing information and acting in an open manner.