Pervasive corruption holds back progress in Bangladesh

(by Peter McIntyre, 18 Nov 2010)

Bangladesh has made strong progress over the past two decades – steady economic growth of 5-6%, a substantial increase in its Human Development Index rating, poverty levels that have declined by a third and child mortality down by more than a third. Iftekhar Zaman, Executive Director of Transparency International, Bangladesh, pays tribute to the success but points out that so much more would be possible.

“It can hardly be disputed that Bangladesh’s performance could have been much better if not for the pervasive corruption and persistent deficit in promoting good governance.”

Dr Zaman was due to make a keynote address at the IRC 2010 Symposium Pumps Pipes and Promises, in the Hague on Wednesday 18 November. He was prevented from travelling after breaking his leg in an accident.

Kathy Shordt, from the Water Integrity Network (WIN), spoke on his behalf and paid tribute to the 3,000 volunteers who have been mobilised in Bangladesh to improve transparency, working through ‘Concerned Citizens Committees’.

They are working in circumstances where for example one in four children have to pay to enter primary school, even though primary education is supposed to be free, and where bribes often have to be paid to get basic services.

However Kathy Shordt pointed out that although corruption levels are undoubtedly high in Bangladesh, it is a topic high on the public agenda, a major issue in the media and one that is addressed by every politician hoping to get elected. She contrasted this with the situation in Holland and the rest of Western Europe, where there is complacency about corruption and it is hardly mentioned in the public discourse.

“The bottom line is that we must all come to detest corruption – that is the key element in combatting it.”

She outlined how Bangladesh has taken the first step on this road and the key role that the Bangladesh Transparency International has played for example in bringing a right to information law into existence.

The group has recently begun to work on water issues – seeing its strengths as being its strong network of local activists and the fact that it is independent of sector bodies. Transparency International Bangladesh has used a number of tools to open up public information and bring people’s concerns to public attention. These include citizen’s report cards, participatory budgeting and tracking and persuading government and education bodies to sign integrity pledges.

These are now being brought into the water sector which Dr Zaman describes as being “plagued by corruption and failures of integrity” including bribery, abuse of power, negligence of duty, asset stripping, extortion, fraud and misusing influence. The main objective of bringing the integrity pledge into the sector – especially at service delivery level – would be “to bring the stakeholders to a social contract to ensure transparency, accountability and integrity so that its service recipients are not harassed or become victims of irregularities or corruption.

Kathy Shordt praised the way that Transparency International in Bangladesh had gradually entered the water sector and the effects it was already having. She urged everyone to address corruption issues in their own countries – especially in the richer countries where it was often hidden.

Dr Iftekhar Zaman’s paper – Integrity Pledge: Fight corruption through social accountability – is available online at http://www.irc.nl/.

Lessons from the field: Regulating service providers to help improve accountability in Uganda

An interesting example to draw lessons from was given by Jacinta Nekesa of SNV-Uganda during Day 2 of IRC’s 2010 Symposium. With the help of SNV, five district-based associations of hand pump mechanics have been created in Uganda.

Before the Assocation's existence, it was obvious that local citizens were not getting proper access to services, the mechanics did not have access to proper tools, nor did the local government have properly trained mechanics on their payroll. In recognising these intertwined difficulties, district based associations (registered as private companies) were created. The Association of Hand Pump Mechanics regulates the prices and functions of the members (service providers) to help prevent monopolies and price collusion.

In doing so, the accountability of services has improved. The information flow between mechanics, the government, and community members is more fluid. Community members are able to voice their concerns. The learning and sharing of knowledge between mechanics is also supported by the help of technologies such as mobile phones.

It was identified that such a system works because all actors involved keep the lines of communication open. All parties ask questions, and remain interested in the process. Technology has also provided a space for these actors to interact, allowing for horizontal communication.

But in the end an important question needs to be addressed: What is the cost of maintaining such an association, and is it sustainable?

Building a social movement against corruption in the WASH sector

Much needed resources for WASH services are lost when corruption at all levels of the 'service delivery chain' continues to be treated as a separate issue in WASH initiatives. Interrogating how corruption is manifested at all levels and recognising that it is merely not an issue of the 'developing south' are important steps that will need to be taken by the WASH sector as a whole.

In her keynote address, Kathy Shordt proposed for the WASH sector to: a) consider creating a strong social movement that comprises a diverse set of developmental actors internal and external to the WASH sector; and b) for the sector to orient itself with existing tools that measure corruption (already available and applied by sectors other than WASH).

During the open forum, some challenges to including corruption as an agenda item in WASH discourse and its activities were identified. These include:
a) the pervasiveness of corruption in today's society;
b) the role of norms and practises in contributing to (or strengthening) corruption; and
c) 'corruption' as a sensitive subject that may restrict or limit opportunities for partnership building.

Despite the very significant challenges all these pose to the sustainable delivery of WASH services, Shordt claims that what may strike the sector as a hopeless situation at this time -- may not be so hopeless tomorrow.

Citing the successful experience of the people's struggles in demanding for policy change in access to information in India -- Shordt demonstrated how a social movement (whether formal or informal) may serve as a viable vehicle for change in society.

In response to corruption serving as a sensitive topic in many countries -- Shordt ended her keynote by challenging the participants of the symposium to develop innovative forms of communication that advocate and signal anti-corruption messages (e.g. street theater; language use) -- also taking stock of and learning from the work of other developmental actors (i.e. UNICEF).

Key Lessons in Accountability

During the first day of the accountability presentations at the symposium, a number of key lessons emerged throughout the session and as a result of the group work activities. These lessons centered on:

• The need to acknowledge that corruption is not just a developing country phenomena. Its affects all countries. But there are differences in the types, levels and impacts of corruption. We need to be especially concerned were corruption impacts on delivery of basic services to the poor. Poor people should be protected from corruption.

• The need to be careful in collecting cost information. The manipulation of such information is a common practice (and fraud). Procedures to collect such information can be designed to try and minimize manipulation (e.g. in Colombia).

• Applying methodologies - we now have methodologies to apply a positive agenda of promoting transparency and accountability. When accountability is weak we see the problems e.g. only 30% of systems in Timore Leste fully functioning after one year.

• Benchmarking as the practice can create incentives to manipulate information even more, and they have the possibility to do so. All such exercises, target setting etc have to be very carefully thought through.

It also became apparent that given the important roles they play, regulators need to be shielded from corruption (regulatory capture...anti-corruption in regulation). But regulatory activities are also important in preventing corruption (anti-corruption through regulation).

Top 3 'Take-Home" Messages from Accountability Sessions, Day 1 - Cor Dietvorst

1. Corruption in WASH is a major issue that we shouldn't ignore

2. There is a positive agenda to promote: strengthening transparency and accountability

3. In the context of SWAPs, measures to promote integrity are especially urgent and important.

"Re-looking" at costing norms of WASH services

“Go beyond Schedule of Rates… We need to relook at costing norms of WASH services …” Mr Vishawarup Pinipe, the Honorable Minister of Government of Andhra Pradesh.

The Honorable Minister called for greater cooperation at global and local levels for addressing the challenge of providing safe water and affordable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services to all, particularly to poor, during his Key Note address at the inaugural session of IRC Symposium – “Pump, Pipes and Promises”, at The Hague, Netherlands on 16^th Nov 2010.

While reflecting on the challenges in sustainable provision of WASH services in India and Andhra Pradesh, he emphasized the need for revising the costing methodology of WASH services in India and other parts of the world. He shared the details of costing methodology of WASH services in India which largely focus on capital costs and personnel costs at present. A small portion of the costs also provide for variable costs (energy, chemicals, etc). He appreciated the initial findings of WASHCost (India) Project which brought to the lime light the gaps in costing of WASH services in Andhra Pradesh and missing cost components such as operation & maintenance costs; cost of capital maintenance; cost of source sustainability and other direct & indirect costs in the estimation process. He agreed with the observations of WASHCost (India) Project which indicated that – “In spite of high investments by government, WASH services are unsustainable as the infrastructure fails to meet the expectations due to lack of investments on operation and maintenance, low level of community participation, etc. The WASH sector is under invested and investments are ad-hoc, leading to unsustainable and inequitable WASH services”.

While reflecting on the importance of water in sustaining life, he referred to various efforts made by Government of India and Andhra Pradesh to provide clean drinking water and basic sanitation to the population of India, in the light of Millennium Development Goals. He briefed the audience about the policy frame work and major programs of Government of India and Andhra Pradesh. Community Lead Total Sanitation, demand driven approaches in rural water supply, public private partnerships to improve the continuity of urban water supply and use of micro credit to women to improve the access to water are some of the innovative approaches in India for improving WASH services. Government of India provides 22 Rs billion each year for rural WASH sector. There are considerable achievements – 98% of habitations are covered under safe drinking water schemes; 3.7 million hand pumps and 1.37 lakh piped water supply scheme, etc are established in the country.

He hoped that the new guidelines by Government of India and research projects such as WASHCost would help addressing some of the critical concerns of estimating the real and total costs of WASH services on life cycle costs approach. He emphasized the need for including costs related to source sustainability; capital maintenance costs; water quality; support costs for capacity building of communities; planning and research, etc, in the revised framework of costing of WASH services.

Mr Vishawarup and Mr Rajeshwara Rao also responded to the queries of audience on a variety of issues such as convergence with National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, the biggest state sponsored employment guarantee program and rural water supply department, etc.

This international symposium is being organized by IRC, International Water and Sanitation Centre, Netherlands as part of WASHCost Project. About 120 participants from 27 countries participated in this symposium to share and discuss the methodologies and tools of costing WASH services in rural and peri urban settlements in the world. IRC, Netherlands is anchoring WASHCost Project, which is a five year action research project. This project is implemented four countries – Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mozambique and Andhra Pradesh (India). WASHCost Project researches on the unit costs providing the WASH service delivery in rural and peri urban areas, based on live cycle cost approaches. In India, this project is anchored by Centre for Economic Social Studies, Hyderabad, in partnership with LNRMI and WASSAN.

Mr Vishwarup and Mr Rajeshwara Rao, Engineer In Chief, Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Department, GoAP represented Government of Andhra Pradesh and interacted with various delegates during the symposium. WASHCost (India) Project team members Dr Ratna Reddy (LNRMI); Dr Sneha Latha (CESS); Dr Rama Mohan Rao (CESS) and MV Rama Chandrudu, WASSAN participated in the symposium and shared initial findings of the action research project on estimating costs of providing WASH services in Andhra Pradesh. The Minister and the team participated in the reception program organized by The Mayor, The Municipality of The Hague City on the evening of 16^th Nov 2010.

A report by MV Rama Chandrudu, WASSAN, Hyderabad, India on 16^th Nov 2010 from The Hague, Netherlands.

Reflection from Cost and Sanitation Sessions - Tuesday 16 November

• There is a big difference between costs &benefits analysis vs only costs analysis. It is important to look at benefits also. There is a key message to include impacts/ benefits also. Do not just look at costs.
• Linking costs and incomes is an important methodological requirement. This data helps the governments to take decisions on costs of inputs and link them with incomes.
• Considerable investments by households are much higher. Investments (by state/ promoter) on promotion of hygiene could trigger more investments from households.
• Costs are pushed to lower levels to make them afford them, as the governments are not able to subsidize them. Is this sustainable?
• Annualized costs are help in choosing the right options.