Guía de Aplicación de Gobernabilidad Corporativa para Las Empresas Urbanas de Água Potable y Saneamiento en América Latina 

Esta Guía usa el marco conceptual y los resultados de dos estudios efectuados por expertos del Banco Mundial, publicados en los años 2011 y 2013, que han revelado que cuando las empresas de Agua y Saneamiento (AP&S) aplican principios y mecanismos de transparencia y de gobernabilidad corporativa, no solo dan muestra de una clara voluntad ética y promueven un mejor comportamiento de su personal, directores y gerentes, sino que además generan mejores indicadores en calidad, cobertura, productividad laboral y eficiencia. Ello significa que el impacto de la gobernabilidad corporativa, aparte de tener un carácter ético para las empresas de AP&S, también posee un carácter práctico en el logro de sus objetivos y metas. Más>>> 

Guidance Note on Corporate Governance for urban Water and Sanitation companies in Latin America (in Spanish)

Two World Bank studies, published in 2011 and 2013, highlighted the importance and positive effects of water and sanitation companies applying principles and mechanisms of transparency and corporate governance. Beyond showing a clear ethical will and promoting better behavior of staff, directors and managers, doing so resulted in the improvement of companies’ indicators of service quality, coverage, labor productivity and efficiency. This shows that corporate governance, apart from its ethical aspects, also has a practical benefit for water and sanitation companies in terms of achieving their objectives and goals. Read More>>>

Citizen Engagement in the Water Sector - A Guidance Note by Seema Thomas and Ghazia Aslam, GPSA

The product entails a review of water operations in order to identify the extent to which citizen engagement and social accountability approaches are integrated in the sector and to evaluate their effectiveness from a citizen-centered perspective. Based on the results of the review, the team will develop a series of recommendations to strengthen the citizen engagement implementation strategy, taking into account good international practices and what has been achieved in other GPs. Read More>>>

Citizen Engagement: Scaling Up Social Accountability for Inclusive Water Services

During the 4th Annual GPSA Global Partners Forum, through the GPSA-WPP Partnership, one of the key workshops focused on thinking about community engagament for inclusive water service delivery. This roundtable discussion led by Maitreyi Das, the Water's Lead Social Development Specialist, highlighted the challenges encountered, lessons learned and impacts observed in integrating social accountability approaches in the water sector. Read More>>>

Общественная подотчетность – за право быть услышанным​ by Zebojon Kurbanova, Journalist, Tajikistan

Мне посчастливилось поучаствовать в Европейском и Центрально-Азиатском региональном Форуме (ECA-Форум) по вопросам Общественной подотчётности в секторе водоснабжения и санитарии в  городе Душанбе. Именно Форум предоставил мне такую возможность раскрыть и развивать свои способности, реализовать свои планы, дал толчок для личностного и профессионального роста. А также полученные знания, полезные навыки и ценная информация об общественной подотчетности в водном секторе помогли мне в последующей моей журналисткой деятельности в сфере освещения данной тематики в таджикских СМИ. Read More>>>

Gender and Water: Women’s Inclusion and Social Accountability in Water Supply and Sanitation Sector by Shifo Sharifzoda, Consultant and Trainer, Consumers Union of Tajikistan

Over the last two years, the Consumers Union of Tajikistan has implemented the Tajikistan Water Improving Social Accountability (TWISA) project, with support and funding from Oxfam UK and the World Bank’s Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA). The project aims to improve social accountability in the water sector through the development of quality standards and citizen participation in monitoring of water service provision. In support of this aim, the Consumers Union facilitated consolidation of service performance indications in Water Supply and Sanitation , created Community Advisory Boards under water providers in the targeted areas of the project to ensure close collaboration between consumers and provider in solving problems the water sector, and conducted various trainings, seminars and awareness raising campaigns to build the capacity of consumers and water providers’ staff. Read More>>>

The Value of Networks: Evaluating Relationships Supporting Institutional Development for Water Supply in Tajikistan by Duncan McNicholl, PhD candidate, Cambridge University

Understanding the complex stakeholder relationships that shape institutions and the development of social accountability in water service delivery can be challenging. The question is: how can the multiple relationships that influence institutions be understood to improve intervention strategies and ultimately improve water service delivery? At the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Regional Forum in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, I presented new research from Cambridge University, in collaboration with Oxfam, which seeks to answer these questions by studying factors influencing the Tajikistan water sector. Tajikistan was identified as a suitable case study because of recent successful efforts to approve a reform of the national water policy, and the development of the Tajikistan Water Supply and Sanitation (TajWSS) Network as a sector knowledge-sharing and coordination platform. These developments provided an opportunity to study factors supporting these changes and how they might be identified from a stakeholder network perspective. Read More>>>

Water in Social Accountability – Reflections from Tajikistan by Jeff Thindwa, GPSA Program Manager

The saying goes, ‘water is life’, and how so true! But water also drives economic and social development. Clean water supply is vital for health, hygiene and livelihood. Water is essential for agriculture and critical to energy production – and much, much more. However, more than a billion people currently live in water-scarce regions, and as many as 3.5 billion could experience water scarcity by 2025. Water scarcity is a recognized cause of conflict and migration and is among the top global risks. To be sure, conflict and migration likewise contribute to scarcity of water! There is work being done, however. Over the last decade, governments and donors have increased budget allocations to water services and infrastructure in many countries around the world. Yet this has not translated proportionately into provision of safe and potable water on the ground. Now, that calls for urgent solutions. But what kind? Read More>>>

Water Sector Note  by Ghazia Aslam, Policy Fellow, George Mason University

There is a growing consensus that although financial and technical issues matter, they do not constitute the only barrier to proper water provision across the world. In order to address challenges in service delivery in the water sector there is a need to focus on governance and accountability structures in the sector. Practitioners have increasingly explored social accountability mechanisms in order to address critical governance challenges in the sector (Ndwa, 2015). Social accountability approaches in the water sector have been implemented in a variety of ways, and include various dimensions. Most popularly, the establishment of water user committees, the compilation of citizen feedback, for example through score cards, and the establishment of joint mechanisms for monitoring have led to service delivery improvements in the water sector. Read More>>>

Fixing Institutions that Fix Pipes: Meet Chris Heymans, Water & Sanitation Specialist

Sipping on aromatic coffee just a few miles from the World Bank and United Nations offices in bustling Nairobi, Tammy Mehdi from the GPSA met with Chris Heymans, Senior Water & Sanitation Specialist for the World Bank, to chat about his work in the water & sanitation sector and ways that both groups can work together to tackle service delivery issues in this area.

Chris has worked in countries ranging from Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Tanzania and Zimbabwe in Africa, to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia in Asia... Read More>>>