The water sector, like many other sectors with large-scale infrastructure projects, public sector involvement as well as high technical complexity and multiple stakeholders, is at risk of corruption. The Global Outlook on Water Integrity estimates that $75 billion of water investments is lost to corruption annually.
Water is indispensable for human health and welfare, therefore corruption in this sector can have extremely harmful consequences. Integrity consists of choosing to think and act based on values rather than personal gain, thus every stakeholder in the water sector has a role to play in ensuring ethical behavior and create integrity change. AWARENET, jointly with GWP-Med, SIWI organized the third Regional Training Course on Water Integrity on 7-8 December 2016 in Tunis, Tunisia, to build the capacity of water managers in applying water integrity tools.
Twenty-one policy-makers from seven countries in the Arab region learnt how to assess integrity risks and applied the water integrity toolbox, including risk reduction and water integrity strengthening tools. The toolbox supports organisations in improving their performance by helping them to make integrity a core part of their business. Participants were equipped with instruments to help them become actors of change for good governance in their institutions.
Data on corruption levels in the Arab region is scarce, however anecdotal evidence suggests a lack of transparency and integrity which undermines effective water governance. Raising awareness and training more stakeholders on how to prevent un-ethical practices and improve the governance of water resource management and service delivery, will lead to transparency and accountability in institutions and the water sector as a whole.
The third Regional Training Course on Water Integrity was organized as part of the “MENA Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme” through its partners GWP-Med, IUCN-ROWA and SIWI, and co-organized with AWARENET, a network of UNDP Cap-Net and UfM.
For more information, please visit: http://awarenet.info/ and