Tj workshop session 2

Session 2
Why conducting an
integrity vulnerability
assessment in the
water sector?
By Marie Laberge
UNDP Oslo Governance Centre

Overview
Why is it important to tackle corruption in the water sector?
Why is it important to collect empirical evidence on the causes and effects of corruption in the water sector?
Brief overview of the proposed assessment approach (Sector Integrity Vulnerability Assessment – ‘SIVA’)
Workshop agenda

1. Why is it important to tackle corruption in the water sector?

Tajikistan is the 5th most water-rich country in the world...
93% of the urban population has access to drinking water
But in the rural areas, where 72% of the population lives, only 47% have access to drinking water
The problem is one of governance, not availability.

What does corruption ‘look like’ in the water sector?
Some typical examples…
Distorted site selection of boreholes or abstraction points for irrigation
Collusion & favoritism in public procurement
Falsified meter reading
Giving preferential treatment for repairs in exchange for ‘speed money’

Corruption in water puts lives and livelihoods at risk
With some 70% of all infrastructure needing reconstruction, there has been a serious deterioration in drinking water quality  health threat to the population
Only 40-50% of treatment systems are effective
As a result: Waterborne infectious diseases prevalent in rural areas
Challenges are growing and problem is increasingly urgent
High costs to society (human, economic & environmental)

Why is the water sector especially vulnerable to corruption?
Water governance spills across agencies
Viewed as a technical issue
Involves large flows of public funds
Water is scarce and becoming more so

What are some key lessons from tackling corruption in the water sector?
Prevent corruption from outset
Understand local context, otherwise reform will fail
Support the poor
Reform must come from above and below

2. Why is it important to collect empirical evidence on the causes and impacts of corruption?

Because of the sensitive nature of anti-corruption reforms, credible research (rather than anecdotes) is essential.
Good policy and good remedy can only come from good diagnosis
Numerous plans & strategies to improve water services have been adopted in Tajikistan, but their implementation is lagging behind
First step to demonstrate progress is to collect evidence, in order to be able to measure this progress!

Monitoring practices in Tajikistan
No standard reporting/monitoring requirement in the water sector (except for tax & book-keeping purposes):
Data is collected by various (6) agencies independently, without any coordination between them
Data is collected mainly on the water supply system (water quality & quantity) – but not on access (e.g. No data collected on the distance between households and water sources)
Data is unreliable
Database are incomplete
Even data collection on financial flows is unavailable
Big gap between the picture emerging from statistics and what is actually experienced on the ground

Evidence can serve many purposes...

Evidence can serve many purposes:
To inform reform strategies to reduce corruption risks (policymaking)
To raise public intolerance to corruption (advocacy)
“Reforms must come from above and below...”
Different purposes  different types of data  different audiences  different dissemination strategies

Data to identify specific target groups, to describe local access conditions & implementation process, tomeasure performance against targets
Data showing need for service & impact of service provided
Data to define problems (to confirm requests /complaints from users)
Data on costs & resources needed
Data to identify target groups, to describe steps involved, costs & resources needed, progress & impact

3. Overview of the proposed assessment approach:
Sector Integrity Vulnerability Assessment (‘SIVA’)

Drawing from the experience of the Water Integrity Network with ‘water integrity studies’
BUT – We are only presenting a ‘menu of options’
Does not mean simply following predefined steps like in a cookbook!
How to adapt international experiences to the Tajik context?

Four key principles:
Evidence-based approach: To depersonalize & depoliticize the fight against corruption
Based on multiple sources of evidence (for triangulation), and mix of qualitative & quantitative research methods
Conducted in collaboration with both water consumers & providers
Create ownership through partnership

Overview of the proposed assessment approach: ‘SIVA’
Rather than measuring the incidence of corruption, let’s focus on the causes of corruption:
wrong institutional incentives, lack of accountability, lack of public info & transparency
4 advantages of the proposed approach:
Helps to pinpoint specific areas / interactions where corruption occurs
Provides a guide into ‘what can be done’
By ‘ranking’ risks, helps to identify priority areas for reform
Can be used for monitoring change over time

Four steps:
Mapping the ‘potential’ corruption risks for each ‘step’ in the provision of water
Identify danger signs (‘red flags’) to watch out for: they alert decision-makers, investigators or the public to the possibility of corrupt practices
Find empirical evidence (through surveys & analysis of objective data sources) of corruption risks and ‘rank’ them based on incidence & impact
Establish a monitoring system to track the most critical ‘red flags’ on a regular basis

How to rank ‘corruption risks’: The risk quadrant

Preliminary lessons learned from international experience
Engage stakeholders from the outset
Develop national ownership
Partnership with government is critical
Collaborate with committed, legitimate, respected local partner
National political enabling environment
... Or else, integrity refroms can backfire and eventually even increase corruption!

Overview of the workshop agenda
How to measure corruption: ‘the basics’
Mapping corruption risks & identifying ‘red flags’ in two sub-sectors: WSS & WRM (irrigation)
‘Internal’ and ‘external’ methodologies for collecting evidence
How to adapt these methodologies to the Tajik context?
How to develop a sustainable monitoring system?
How to develop a mitigation plan?
How to design a communication strategy?
Next steps

Tj workshop session 2

by Governance Asssessment Portal on Jun 04, 2010

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Tj workshop session 2 — Presentation Transcript