Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Volvamos a la fuente

Agua, saneamiento y residuos solidos

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • AquaFund
    • Featured
    • Gender
    • Hydro-BID
    • Innovation and data
    • Knowledge
    • Optimal sanitation
    • Solid waste
    • Source of Innovation
    • Unacccounted for water
    • WASH
    • Wastewater
    • Water and sanitation
    • Water resources
  • Authors
  • English

Risk management in water and sanitation

July 12, 2013 Por web-blogs 3 Comments


A first glance to integrity risk in the water and sanitation sector

By Juanita Riaño and Marianela López Galdos, Office of Institutional Integrity

Seguir a @jrl44

Bolivia Foto 040Every year weak governance and corruption siphons away millions of dollars intended to improve lives of individuals worldwide. Last year at an accountability and transparency panel, Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. Secretary-General, spoke of 30% of development aid lost to corruption.  But weak governance and corruption have a negative impact on development outcomes through a diversity of means that transcend the resources effectively wasted. Therefore the 30% figure should be considered as the lower bound of how much is lost to corruption.

Projects executed in the water and sanitation (WSA) sector are no excuse; even more, there are specific factors to this sector that increase the integrity risk:

(i)                 Monopolistic nature of the market such as high entry costs and economies of scale;

(ii)               Participation of the construction sector, perceived to be one of the sectors most prone to corruption according to Transparency International.

(iii)             Procurement of large-scale projects (it is twice as capital-intensive as other utilities);

(iv)              A complex network of agents , including different levels of government, donors, multiple providers and sub-contractors, as well as diverse communities, who have different capacity levels and incentives; and

(v)               Limited capacity of ultimate users to participate in the decision making process of projects (weak voice and accountability) or, at the opposite side of the spectrum, are powerful enough to influence the process to benefit their own private interests (state capture).

Given the impact that corruption in the WSA sector can have in the livelihoods of people and on the development of countries, it is crucial to reduce the opportunities for integrity risk to materialize in prohibited practices. We believe the strategy should aim at combining a deep understanding of the corruption risks that might arise at the different stages of the program cycle, an effort to strengthen institutional structures and controls, and implementation of a robust compliance system.

In an effort to address this challenge, we, at the Office of Institutional Integrity (OII), are working to develop assessment tools and mitigation strategies to manage the integrity risk. We hope that our approach has positive spillovers and unintended consequences: we would like to not only mitigate the integrity risk in IDB-financed activities but also to contribute to our development partners’ capacity to manage these risks.

At first sight, the problem might look overwhelming but we like to believe we can help create an effective strategy. It should not be a one-size-fits-all recipe but rather tailored to particular needs. How would you imagine such strategy?


Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Agua, Conocimiento, Gestión, prácticas, Saneamiento, Sanitation, Water

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FOLLOW US

Suscribete

Search

Recent Posts

  • The challenges Irma, Morelia and Sobeida face to obtain water in Guatemala
  • The Future of Sócrates in Pampa Hermosa
  • Innovation meets resilience: Tackling desertification in the Atacama Desert
  • Innovate & Integrative: A Study Tour Journey Through South Korea’s Water, Sanitation, and Solid Waste Management Schemes and Technologies
  • Water Transforms Lives in Rural Communities of Ecuador

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

    Blog posts written by Bank employees:

    Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


    For blogs written by external parties:

    For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

    The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

    Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



    Privacy Policy

    Derechos de autor © 2025 · Magazine Pro en Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

    Aviso Legal

    Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

    facebook
    twitter
    youtube
    This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
    To learn more about cookies, click here
    x
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT