Annotated Water Integrity Scan

Why it is important?

An estimated 10% of total funds in the WASH sector are lost due to corruption. Probably an even larger percentage is lost due to poor management and accountability. Measures to increase water integrity are crucial to reduce the risks for such losses.

Purpose

The main purposes are:

• Increase awareness about water integrity by stimulating debate on the topic
• Quickly assess integrity risks in the water sector through multi-stakeholder workshops
• Identify priority steps for improvement

How it works?

The cornerstone of the Annotated Water Integrity Scan approach is a participatory workshop, during which stakeholders are asked to score identified risk areas in terms of levels of Transparency, Accountability and Participation. Participants are invited to openly discuss and defend all scores, high and low, regardless of their own position. The discussion brings to light risks and priorities which are to be addressed. This makes it possible to introduce integrity as an aspect of a project without antagonizing stakeholders and helps raise awareness on contrasting points of view and unexpected risks. It is a means to gradually build a common perspective on potential issues, not to establish facts. As such, it is meant to be embedded in ongoing initiatives in the water sector and cannot be a stand-alone activity.

Limits

• It is not a one-size-fits-all-tool. Adapting indicators and risk areas assessed in a workshop to the local context and specificities of the sub-sector can make results more relevant.
• It differs from other qualitative assessments such as focused group discussions by emphasizing the search for common ground and the identification of solutions and priorities for action.
• Although it includes scoring and leads to a preliminary assessment of TAP in a chosen sub-sector, it differs from other assessment tools or social audits by focusing primarily on dialog and raising awareness.
• The method works best when integrated in a process and used repeatedly and at progressively higher levels as a tool for discussion or monitoring.