Corruption in public service delivery : experience from South Asia's water and sanitation sector

This article presents empirical information regarding the types and magnitude of corrupt behaviours documented in water supply and sanitation service provision in eight locations in India and one in Pakistan. It also examines the strengths and weaknesses of current strategies to reduce corruption among several public water and sanitation bureaucracies in South Asia, drawing on interviews and focus group discussions with more than 1,400 staff, customers, and key informants.

Where corruption has been reduced, two concomitant drivers are observed: a shift in the accountability networks of service providers, and a change in the work environment that increases the moral cost of misconduct.

Examples of how corruption can be addressed include: increased transparency through the use of information technology in public water and sanitation agencies to monitor staff activities by supervisors; involving NGOs in monitoring contractors; relying more on community labour while restricting the use of private contractors to more complex work; and encouraging constructive political involvement at the organisational level with the help of social marketing and information technology.