The overall activities of this SIWI-led, Sida-supported, UfM-labelled programme where GWP-Med is a core regional partner, aims to develop capacities of targeted water stakeholder groups at different governance levels to improve transparency, accountability and participatory practices in the MENA water sector. The focus countries of the Programme include Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.
During this four-day workshop, more than 20 operational staff members from the five countries that had already - during national workshops - developed a roadmap with ways forward for enhancing and promoting integrity in their respective organisations, were given the opportunity to turn these into more realistic and implementable projects. Participants deepened their knowledge on integrity, shared their experiences and reflected on how transparency, accountability and participation mechanisms can be used as means for promoting integrity in practice and were also provided with relevant tools and food-for-thought when it comes to mainstreaming cross-cutting issues, such as gender, into their projects.
Breakout sessions, hands-on exercises and theme-specific panels addressed integrity in multiple fields, namely project management, procurement and contracting, customer relations and internal procedures, while plenary discussions allowing alumni to share challenges and exchange ideas for improvements in each other’s work, were used as means for peer-reviewing the individual Action Plans.
A role-play on managing change and overcoming relevant challenges for the successful implementation of their actions was particularly embraced by the participants, as the resistance to change was one of the main common challenges raised during the workshop, while a field trip to Zarqa Municipality allowed alumni to see in practice the successful implementation of a concrete Action Plan that promoted integrity through enhanced participation, accountability and transparency.
This methodology allowed for the fine-tuning of the Action Plans and resulted in more tangible and concrete actions to be implemented, given the available resources and the timeline.
Discussions on the ways forward included the ‘mentorship phase’ which follows the amendment of the Action Plans and during which mentors will support alumni, providing them with proper guidance, tools and even inspiration for the successful implementation of their Action Plans.