As the 2030 deadline for the SDG’s approaches, countries and development partners continue to strive to accelerate progress towards universal access to water and sanitation. A key component of these efforts is to identify the bottlenecks and systemic weaknesses that undermine sanitation service provision, contributing to the failure to expand access at the required rate and deliver sustainable and equitable services. A well-established regulatory system and applying a robust set of regulatory mechanisms can improve service delivery by ensuring compliance with regulations and standards and balancing social, environmental, and economic interests. Regulatory actors can play a vital role by ensuring that service providers are accountable and supported to effectively provide services, and that tariffs and other financing tools help achieve sustainability.
Many countries have taken vital steps to improve the regulation of the urban sanitation sub-sector. Nevertheless, corruption and integrity failures have been estimated to result in the loss of 4-26% of sector finances and impede the attainment of universal, safe, equitable, and sustainable sanitation services. A well-functioning regulatory system can play a vital role in preventing corruption and integrity failures. Limited work has, however, been done to understand integrity issues in urban sanitation and the associated regulatory frameworks for the sub-sector.
Within this context, the Water Integrity Network commissioned Aguaconsult to assess the extent to which regulatory frameworks for urban sanitation in Bangladesh, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia prevent and mitigate key integrity failures. Six reports were produced, including the four country reports below (Bangladesh, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia) as well as a multi-country synthesis report and a summary brief.
These reports collectively highlight the progress made in strengthening urban sanitation regulation, especially in Zambia and Tanzania. However, they also detail the persistent prevalence of a wide-ranging set of integrity failures, including financial mismanagement, political interference, unfair and corrupt recruitment, bribery, nepotism and collusion in awarding contracts, and bribery at the citizen-institution interface. Ultimately, the study concluded that reducing the prevalence of integrity failures in the urban sanitation sub-sector necessitates adopting a holistic approach that involves developing and applying a range of broad and specific regulatory mechanisms, strengthening the wider regulatory environment, and accounting for cross-cutting considerations.
View all six reports below:
