Corruption hampers the achievement of SDG 6 for ensuring water and sanitation for all. In fact, corruption is estimated to be responsible for “losses” of 10% of the investments going into the capital intensive water sector and in some countries reaching as high as 40% to 50% (WIN, 2020). This in turn leads to higher costs for drinking water and sanitation services, degrades the quality and reliability of supply and thus endangers the health of people (SDG 3). As women and girls, in many countries, are responsible for the management of household water supply, sanitation and health, they are disproportionally affected by corruption compared to men and can even be victims of sextortion and other forms of exploitation (SDG 5). To strengthen water integrity, there is a need to focus on SDG 16, which aims for accountable institutions. Water and sanitation sector organizations therefore need to operate with integrity to prevent corruption, and enhance credibility to achieve various SDG goals. This proposed webinar will bring together the experiences, and knowledge from different organizations on the topic of water integrity and discuss how integrity can help in catalysing the achievement of SDGs.

Agenda

Welcome and Introductions

• Luna Bharati, ICWRGC

Experiences on addressing integrity in water and sanitation (Moderated by Luna)

• Barbara Schreiner, WIN
• Binayak Das, WIN

Panel presentations and discussion

Data integrity and SDGs monitoring

• Marianela Fader, International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change (ICWRGC)

Engagement with Communities crucial for SDGs

• Avi Sarkar, UNHABITAT

Financing SDGs and protecting the investments

• Vivian Castro-Wooldridge, ADB

Role of Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme  (IHP) in achieving SDGs

• Anil Mishra, UNESCO-IHP

Closing

• Annabelle Houdret, DIE

The Bonn Water Network (http://www.bonnwaternetwork.de/) consists of ten renowned institutions with longstanding experience on water and related issues: the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC); Bonn University with its Institute of Geography (GIUB) holding the UNESCO Chair in Human Water Systems, the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health (IHPH); the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE); the IUCN Environmental Law Center; and three Bonn-based UN institutions: the United Nations Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the Global Water Operators Partnerships Alliance (UN-Habitat/GWOPA). In addition, Berlin based Water Integrity Network (WIN) is a partner of the BWN.