Corruption in social services and human development: water, sanitation and electricity sectors

Corruption costs the Water, Sanitation and Electricity (WSE) sectors millions of dollars every year, siphoning off scarce monetary resources and diminishing a country’s prospects for providing these crucial utilities for all. This paper examines how corruption manifests itself in the WSE sectors in order to identify and design sector programmes aimed at improving the well-being of the poor. It provides a comparative, cross-country study of the experiences of countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Combating corruption in the WSE sector requires action from the public sector, private sector, citizens, civil society organisations and the media to monitor WSE services and promote more ethical behaviour. The authors note that particular attention should be paid to the supply-side of corruption, as consumers’ willingness to pay for better service creates a supply-side pressure that perpetuates corruption. The paper concludes with policy pointers and recommendations for successful anti-corruption mechanisms in the WSE sectors.