The document provides an agenda for a Water Integrity Workshop hosted by the OECD. The workshop aims to discuss challenges and best practices for promoting integrity in water services and resource management across countries. Key objectives include sharing experiences on recent developments in water integrity, showcasing the private sector's contributions, discussing indicators to track progress on integrity, and identifying policy messages on integrity to be included in forthcoming OECD Principles on Water Governance. A variety of stakeholders from government, civil society, business and international organizations will discuss these topics over the course of the day-long workshop.
2. About the OECD
The OECD is a forum in which governments compare and exchange policy experiences, identify good
practices in light of emerging challenges, and promote decisions and recommendations to produce better
policies for better lives. The OECD’s mission is to promote policies that improve economic and social well-
being of people around the world.
About OECD Integrity Week
The OECD's second annual Integrity Week takes place in Paris from 17-21 March 2014. On this occasion, the
OECD will host multiple public events relating to anti-corruption and integrity. These events will bring
together stakeholders from government, academia, business, trade and civil society to engage in dialogue
on policy, best practices, and recent developments in the fields of integrity and anti-corruption.
For more information, visit: http://www.oecd.org/cleangovbiz/oecd-integrity-week-2014.htm
For any questions concerning the content of the Workshop, please contact Ms Delphine Clavreul
(Delphine.clavreul@oecd.org). Please direct any questions regarding practical arrangements to
CleanGovBiz@oecd.org.
3. Water Integrity Workshop: Broaden the base, Increase the pace
Background
By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9 billion people, with a major proportion living in urban areas. It is
estimated that 4 billion people will live in water-stressed areas and water demand will increase by 55%, thus
generating intense competition across people, places and time scales, especially in emerging economies. This
gloomy picture raises significant challenges for the management of water resources, in a context of acute
water governance “crisis” exacerbated by institutional dysfunction, unethical practices, opaque decision-
making, poor accountability, and corruption.
Strategies and solutions for better integrity and transparency in the water sector exist, and are backed-up by
extensive knowledge, science and technologies. But their implementation on the ground is challenged by a
series of gaps intrinsic to the water sector: high degree of territorial and institutional fragmentation, limited
capacity at different levels, lack of information disclosure, mismatches across governance and hydrological
scales, lack of human and financial resources, low level of stakeholder engagement, etc.
Objectives
The OECD workshop on water integrity, co-convened with the Water Integrity Network, Transparency
International and SIWI-UNDP/Water Governance Facility, will provide an opportunity to discuss challenges
and best practices in promoting integrity in water services and resources management, across OECD and non
OECD countries. It will help diagnose major governance obstacles, and identify valuable lessons from project
and policy levels, including from related sectors such as energy and agriculture.
Building on the activities of the Working Group on “Integrity and Transparency” of the OECD Water
Governance Initiative, the workshop has the following objectives:
Share experience on recent developments on water integrity and transparency and the
contribution to the global water agenda;
Showcase the contribution of the business community in strengthening integrity, transparency and
accountability in the water sector;
Take stock of existing (and needed) indicators to track progress on water integrity and
transparency
Discuss policy messages and ways forward on water integrity to be reflected in the OECD Principles
on Water Governance under preparation.
Format
The event will be very interactive, consisting essentially of lively discussions across a wide range of
stakeholders from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors within and outside the water community. The
expected audience includes representatives from national governments, regional, basin and local authorities,
regulators, donors and international financial institutions, public and private service providers, NGOs,
international organisations, academics and independent experts from OECD and non-OECD countries.
The workshop will open with some introductory remarks by the Chair and the organiser to set the scene and
present the objectives and expected outcomes of the event. Each session will be structured around a brief
introduction on the issues at stake followed by a series of staged interventions from selected participants to
provide insights on different perspectives and experiences. Participants will then be given the floor to share
comments and concise reactions, building on the leading policy questions provided in the agenda.
Expected outcomes
Building on the contributions from different stakeholders and sectors, the following outcomes are expected:
Key messages to the intention of decision-makers to foster better integrity and transparency in the
water sector. These will be reflected in forthcoming OECD Principles on Water Governance;
Identification of key indicators to track progress and measure effectiveness of integrity and
transparency frameworks; these will feed the discussions around a “governance sub-goal” in the
post-2015 development agenda;
Identification of key areas for future work on water integrity and transparency by OECD and
partners.
4. AGENDA
08:30 – 09:00 Registration and Coffee Welcome
09:00 – 09:10 A contribution to the OECD Water Governance Initiative
Rolf Alter, Director, OECD Public Governance and Territorial Development
09:10 – 09:20 Welcoming Remarks by the Chair of the Workshop
Hâkan Tropp, Managing Director, Stockholm International Water Institute
09:20 – 10:30 Integrity and transparency in the Global Water Agenda
OBJECTIVES
The session aims to discuss how to jointly continue putting integrity and transparency on
the international, regional and national post-2015 agendas and strategies for the water
sector. It will provide for a “tour de table” of recent developments (events, reforms,
initiatives, publications) on water integrity. It aims at sharing insights, views and
information among participants, and broadening the base to foster further work on water
integrity at multiple levels and in different contexts.
Introductory remarks by Frank van der Valk (WIN) (10 minutes) on:
1. An overview of the water integrity network development, outreach and
perspective
2. Outcomes and next steps of the Water Integrity Forum (5-7 June 2013, Delft)
Staged interventions on water integrity in the international agenda
Stuart Orr, WWF International
Laila Oualkacha, African Ministerial Council on Water
Tibor Stelbaczky, Budapest Water Summit
Eileen Hofstetter, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
The group discussion will then address the following questions (3-4 minutes each):
How do you/your organisation contribute to better integrity and transparency in
the water sector? In practice and/or at project and policy level.
How to make the case that water integrity is a concern for developing, developed
and emerging economies? What is needed to engage decision-makers?
Why would you (not) join a concerted effort to promote integrity in the water
sector?
MODERATOR
Teun Bastemeijer, Chief Advisor Strategic Outreach & Programmes, Water Integrity
Network
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11:00- 12:30 The business case for water integrity – How can the private sector contribute?
5. OBJECTIVES
Water infrastructure, irrigation and dam projects are large, expensive and complex. This
makes corruption in procurement and contracts easier and profitable, which distorts
policies, budgets and billing. But more than corruption, a key issue contributing to citizens’
trust in government and service providers is “information transparency”, especially on
financial performance. Further efforts are needed, including in OECD countries, to drill
down into absolute and relative efficiency of the sector, and shed greater light on
embedded and dispersed costs across the water chain.
As a major stakeholder, the business community has engaged important efforts in the last
decade to contribute to better integrity and transparency in the water sector, be it because
businesses depend on water for their production process, profit from the water chain, sell
water-dependent products, or deliver water services. The session will take stock of recent
initiatives from a wide range of business representatives (from the water, energy and food
sectors) as well as lessons learned in terms of reducing the regulatory risk and contributing
to better stakeholder engagement and accountability.
Brief Introductory remarks (5 minutes):
Jason Morrison, CEO Water Mandate and Janek Hermann-Friede, WIN on the
Water Stewardship Partnerships
Joppe Cramwinckel, World Business Council on Sustainable Development
Alexandre Brailowsky, Suez Environment
Pedro Montoya, EADS International
The group discussion will then address the following questions (3-4 minutes each):
Which sectors have taken the lead in adopting integrity standards/code of
conducts? Why?
Which practices are replicable for the water sector? What are the remaining
obstacles?
What can the private sector do or not do? How to dispel the myths?
MODERATOR
Gemma Aoilfi, Head of the Corporate Governance and Compliance Division, Basel Institute
on Governance
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch – OECD Cantine or surroundings
14:00 – 15:30
Tracking progress in water integrity and transparency: which indicators to measure what
has to be improved?
OBJECTIVES
This session aims to i) identify the range of existing indicators to measure transparency
and integrity (TI) in the water sector; ii) share information on their use in the different
water subsectors; and iii) discuss experience/views of their effectiveness and the steps
needed to assure their timely reporting.
The session will contribute to the ongoing development of OECD indicators on Water
Governance. It will highlight issues that arise in both revenue-earning organisations (e.g.
water utilities) as well as non-revenue organisations (e.g. ministries). Participants will
include stakeholders from within and outside the water sector.
6. Brief overview of:
1. Transparency and integrity indicators (perception-based and fact-based) and how
they are used at the macro, sectoral, institutional and project level;
2. How these indicators differ between revenue-earning and non-revenue earning
organisations;
3. Lessons learned in using them: what works well? What resources are required?;
4. Needed indicators for the post 2015 agenda
Remarks by discussants will follow (3-4 minutes each):
Dominique Gatel, Véolia
Lucia de Stefano, Water Observatory – Botin Foundation
Monica Corrales, AECID
Julien Eyrard, Action against Hunger
The group discussion will then address the following questions (3-4 minutes each):
What is your experience/opinion in developing indicators to assess and monitor
transparency, integrity, accountability and participation in the water sector? What
works best (i.e. perception based indicators vs. fact-based indicators);
Which organisations should have the responsibility for reporting on transparency
and integrity issues? At which level? How frequently? What resources should be
allocated?
What are the challenges for institutions to adopt and report on transparency and
integrity indicators? Where are good practices?
MODERATOR:
Donal O’Leary, Senior Water Advisor, Transparency International
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:30 Key messages on integrity and transparency for OECD Principles on Water Governance
OBJECTIVES
The OECD Water Governance Initiative is preparing “OECD Principles on Water
Governance”, which aim to provide decision-makers with evidence-based policy guidance
on how to diagnose and bridge a series multi-level governance gaps in designing and
implementing water policy. Such principles are being developed in a bottom-up fashion by
4 working groups on i) stakeholder engagement, ii) governance of water supply and
sanitation, iii) basin governance, iv) integrity and transparency. Draft Principles will be
discussed on several occasions throughout 2014, subject to consultation at the 7th
World
Water Forum and to the different regions (Latin America, MENA, Africa, Asia and Europe),
and endorsed in 2015.
This session aims to sketch out preliminary messages that could shape the water integrity
and transparency section of this OECD instrument on water governance, building on the
water chapter of the OECD Toolkit for Integrity and a draft scoping note prepared by the
organisers of the workshop ahead of the meeting. Participants will exchange views and
provide guidance on preliminary policy messages outlined, and share good practices to
support their implementation.
The session will start with a presentation of key messages (10 minutes), followed by
staged interventions (3-4 minutes each) from “discussants”:
7. Raymond Valiant Ruritan, Jasa Tirta I Public Corporation
Abdelfattah Metawie, Institut Méditerranéen de l’Eau
Johannes Kannicht, KFW
Lesha Witmer, Butterfly Effect Coalition
The group discussion will then address the following questions (3-4 minutes each):
Are these messages capturing key issues at stakes for better water integrity and
transparency? If not, what is missing?
How can we track progress on each of the messages? Do we have all the tools?
What is missing?
Are there lessons to learn from other sectors? Which ones and how?
MODERATOR
Aziza Akhmouch, Head, OECD Water Governance Programme.
17:30 – 17:45 Wrap-up and Reflection
Ellen Pfeiffer, Rapporteur
Janos Bertok, Head of the Public Sector Integrity Division, OECD
17:45 – 18:00 Conclusion by the Chair
Håkan Tropp, Managing Director, Stockholm International Water Institute