The workshop was attended by 30 delegates comprising journalists, civil society, members of the SADC Network of Water Communicators and practitioners working in transparency related institutions drawn from the SADC region. The workshop used a combination of plenary sessions, keynote addresses, debates, training workshops, a networking dinner, and presentations from participants on case studies relating to issues of integrity in the water sector within their countries. Over twenty participants provided examples of initiatives in their countries that spoke to the promotion or need to promote integrity and accountability in the water sector. The cases presented by participants will be compiled and published for learning purposes and adaptation.
The trainers and selected speakers spoke to the theme and gave insights to the participants as to how the media can effectively use its role as a discourse shaper, to act as watchdogs to hold the right people accountable for wrongdoing.
Addressing participants during a presentation that gave an overview of the programme, The WaterNet Programme Officer and Regional Coordinator for the Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme in the SADC region Ms Rennie Chioreso Munyayi told delegates that the main focus of the programme was to strengthen anti-corruption and preventative capacities in the region. Ms Munyayi stated that:
“Corruption is as much structurally conditioned as it is an individual choice. This is why anti-corruption strategies, policies and capacity building efforts should seek to reduce structural opportunities for corruption as well as motivational factors to promote integrity in the water sector.”
According to the SADC/WaterNet Professorial Chair at the University of Malawi and one of the trainers in the Water Integrity Programme, Professor Wapulumuka Mulwafu, it was noted that weak management systems are detrimental to increased potable water-provision efforts.
Mulwafu further said that as the regional population increases, so does demand for safe drinking water.
“This comes against the negative impact of climate change. Countries need to be alerted that water is finite and that there is need for a great sense of urgency to properly manage the little water the region has in order to avert a crisis. There are heavy costs associated with having weak systems that do not promote integrity, efficient use of water and ensure its proper management,” Mulwafu said.
The need to rid the sector of corruption which has corroded institutions in some countries at the expense of communities remains critical, Mulwafu said.
“We need to build capacity that would ensure when water-related decisions are made, for example to drill boreholes, develop water reticulation systems and implement other technologies, communities are consulted to become part of the decision. The issue of ensuring that interventions are sustainable, is key. However, what we are seeing is, in some cases, facilities that have become obsolete because spare parts could not be easily found to repair or maintain systems that would have, in some instances, gobbled a fortune,” he added.
Mulwafu further highlighted that the current and projected funding in the water sector had highlighted the need to ensure efficient and corrupt-free utilization of resources.
One of the trainers, Mr. Shingirayi Mushamba, highlighted the need to understand the root causes of corruption by designing effective anti-corruption tools.
He urged participants to continue lobbying for transparent and accountable systems that prevent corruption while also taking action using existing legal instruments and political, administrative and fiscal tools.
Participants were also given an overview of anti-corruption provisions in national laws and policies and global and regional protocols such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the SADC Protocol Against Corruption which could be used to take steps towards challenging corrupt tendencies.
He stated that “Knowledge of national, regional and global conventions should be imparted to the general public. These should also be used in the formulation of the basis to exert pressure on countries that ratified regional and global conventions to domesticate provisions into national laws”
Overall, the workshop introduced the participants to key components related to transparency, integrity and accountability in the water sector and provided an overview of how the application of these components can enhance water governance. It therefore provided a conceptual grounding in the area of integrity, accountability and anti-corruption in water, its drivers and impacts on water as well as on poverty reduction and sustainable development. In addition the course provided an overview of tools and methodologies to promote water integrity, transparency and accountability and their applicability in various contexts. This was complemented by examples of good practices relating to the promotion of integrity, transparency, accountability and anti-corruption in water, whilst also placing an emphasis on how media and civil society can meet their obligations and roles to and in society.
The sessions identified some cross-cutting anti-corruption and transparency related activities which would improve operations in the water sector. Some of which included:
} Improving water governance requires transparency, accountability and fighting corruption
} It requires the right knowledge, access to strong partners and good tools
} Awareness promotion
} strengthening procurement systems, consumer redress and influence, increasing accountability and transparency in water programming, public expenditure tracking, strengthening capacities and awareness among water managers, regulators, and decision-makers
} Narrowing existing gaps between policies and implementation with regards to water supply.
} More qualified staff and sufficient investments in water capital and maintenance.
By promoting journalists reporting on integrity related water stories, it is hoped that in due course, journalists and civil society activists across the SADC region will be improving integrity in their countries while also increasing participation and transparency in water- and sanitation-related debates and discussions. The Regional Capacity Building Programme on Promoting Water Integrity in Sub-Saharan Africa arouse from identified gaps through a mapping exercise of staff at regional, national and local level, including river basin organisations, as well as government and municipal entities. The exercise was conducted in 2008 by the United Nations Development Programme – Water Governance Facility, WaterNet and CapNet which mapped regional and national policies, institutions, laws and regulations, as well as projects active in promoting transparency, accountability and integrity in the water sector in the SADC region reflected the need for enhanced integrity in the water sector.
This need was also reflected by the 2008 Global Corruption Report for the water sector, and expressed through the 2009 Water Integrity Network (WIN) survey.
In response to this demand, the UNDP-Water Governance Facility, CapNet, WIN and WaterNet secured 16.5 million Swedish Kronor (approximately $2.4 million) from the Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) for a period of three years to implement the Regional Capacity Building Programme on Promoting Water Integrity in Sub-Saharan Africa. The programme is being implemented in the SADC, East African Community (EAC) and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regions.
GWPSA’s Knowledge Manager, Patricia Lumba is a member of the SADC Communicators Network. The role of the SADC Network of Water Communicators is to support implementation of the Regional Awareness and Communication Strategy for the SADC Water Sector as outlined in the RSAP. GWPSA will therefore be looking at strengthening collaboration with journalists and continue to collaborate with the journalists that attended the training.