Teun Bastemeijer is the new manager of the Water Integrity Network, a network aiming to fight corruption in the water sector worldwide in order to reduce poverty. In this interview he talks about corruption in the water sector and how it hinders equitable development, as well as how the WIN supports the fight against corruption. He emphasizes the links of water sub-sectors with environmental sanitation, natural resources and water sources.

Teun has a background as a civil engineer from Delft University, specialised in Polder Development, water in relation to land use management and physical infrastructure planning, almost 20 years experience in the water sector and over 30 relating to development work in government, civil society and academic environments. He has been a project manager, country director and senior advisor for the UN, the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation as well as the International Water and Sanitation Centre IRC.

You have worked in the water sector for almost 20 years. Have you had to face corruption at any point?

Corruption has many faces. I can give examples of different levels, for example at community level where leaders try to control the advantages of the water or sanitation systems by locating taps, hand pumps and subsidized latrines near their houses. At municipality level it is very frequent that a mayor uses revenues from sales of drinking water for his campaign or as petty cash. Corruption is often related to unauthorized or illegal dumping of wastes in rivers. It’s often cheaper to pay off an official than to construct a treatment plant. Unfortunately, there are so many concrete examples that I could go on for ages.

What makes corruption in the water sector such a fundamental issue?

Corruption is one of the key factors for the destruction of natural resources and therefore also the water sources. To say it very briefly, corruption leads to the fact that the water, sanitation, food and environment related UN Millennium Development Goals and Targets will not be reached, meaning that a lot of people may die because of corruption because they don’t have access to vital basic resources. This may be a blunt way of putting it, but I believe it’s not far from truth.

Developing countries are facing dramatically rising food prices, even causing riots in the streets of Cameroon and Haiti. How does corruption in the water sector relate to poverty and development?

Water and sanitation are key factors in improving the situation for the poor and the lack of it creates inequality as it destroys opportunities to actually make something of their lives, and reach a degree of inclusiveness in the economic development that is necessary to combat poverty. The Global Corruption Report 2008 on corruption in the water sector, coming out end of June, states water as a main factor for economic development, so does the 2006 Human Development Report. Corruption is affecting the efficiency of investments and the lifetime performance of infrastructure and facility services in such way that it causes death and destruction.

How does the WIN tackle corruption?

The WIN concentrates on capacities in the water sector, including environment and sanitation with issues such as water pollution and access to reliable water sources, but we also try to engage actors outside the water sector who can help to tackle corruption because they have knowledge and experience as well as commitment to work on water related issues. We are an expanding network with currently over 600 members of all kinds such as international organisations, civil society organisations and networks, individual members from many countries, but also corporate members. Through our relationship with Transparency International (TI), we can help gain access to information that is needed to fight, identify or diagnose the risk of corruption, but there is specific knowledge needed in the thematic areas that need water specialist skills and knowledge. We also do national and international advocacy and local actions and we hope to link up to some of the TI national chapter’s activities. Through this link with TI and other strategic networks we hope to be able to become a meeting platform for water and governance related organizations.

What are the priorities of your work with WIN for the next year? What are the key events taking place?

We are launching the TI Global Corruption Report 2008 focussing this year on corruption in the water sector. The launch will be on 25 June in New York together with the United Nations Development Programme. In this context, we’ll also look into national events to publicise the GCR nationally and advocate for change on a country level. The second milestone is the Stockholm Water Week in August. The third key event this year is the International Anti-Corruption Conference in Athens, where we will facilitate discussions about corruption in the different water sectors, including or relating to environment, sanitation, agriculture and energy. We will also ensure a strong participation of water specialists. On the short term we are hoping to gain experience and disseminate lessons learnt through small projects under the recently launched Small Grant Fund and to access additional funds to support more action on the ground. On a long term basis, we need to build a good strategic framework supported by a vision for 2015 when the MDG Declaration sets an important evaluation milestone.

Thank you, Teun.

Interview by Georg Neumann