A coalition on water integrity in Tanzania in the pipeline !

A consultative workshop on integrity in the water sector was successfully conducted on12 July 2011 at SNV offices, Msasani in Dar es Salaam. The workshop, held under the auspices of the International Water Integrity Network –WIN, with members in over 30 countries including Tanzania, brought together 10 organisations with the aim of  collaborating  to strengthen water integrity in the water sector in Tanzania.

The workshop enabled participating organisations to develop a common understanding of WIN and its approaches, discuss how WIN can help to promote water integrity in Tanzania, and map out areas where WINs regional initiative could link up with local activities. The organisations represented included SNV Tanzania, GIZ, TAWASaNET, DARAJA, Policy Forum, WEPMO, ACRA, Transparency International, Water Aid and COBIHESA.

The workshop facilitated by Janek Hermann-Friede from the Thematic Programmes, and Monitoring and Evaluation , at the Water Integrity Network Secretariat in Berlin, Germany,  received many  important inputs from participants. COBIHESA Programme Officer, David Katusabe articulated the need to :

• ·         Provide training support to indigenous NGOs to increase their capacity to participate more effectively in promoting integrity in the water sector and development of the water sector as a whole,
• ·         strengthen TAWASaNET which was identified as the most suitable home for the envisaged water integrity forum in Tanzania,
• ·         help develop a baseline on corruption in the water sector and ,
• ·         provide support for conducting a public expenditure tracking survey (PET)for the water sector as none has been done.

The workshop was an important stage in the unfolding process of WINs engagement in Tanzania, following other meetings with the Ministry of Water officials and key water stakeholders.

A conspicuous missing conclusion at the workshop was on Sanitation, as noted by a participant from SNV, raising fears that it is still a grey area for interventions and funding despite its central role in the achievement of several  MDGs. The status of not clearly falling under the direct responsibility of either the health or the water sector, heightens its status as a crosscutting issue that deserves to be mainstreamed in all sector programmes.

COBIHESA has been an active WIN member since 2009, having participated in the process of expanding WINs international steering committee, evaluation of WINs programmes, and has, provided input in WINs processes whenever required. At local level, COBIHESA is currently finalising two research proposals: ‘Perceptions of Water Users in Dar es Salaam and Coast Region on Corruption in DAWASCO’; and ‘Assessment of the Magnitude of Unmet Water and Sanitation Needs in Primary Schools in Rufiji District and their Impact on Teaching, Learning and Health Outcomes’ .

One of the four aims of WIN’s Global Strategy 2011-2016 is to ‘help forge, encourage and support coalitions and facilitate programmes to increase integrity in the water sector and deal with corruption in a concerted and solution oriented way’.