A/HRC/18/33 B. Strong institutions and clear designation of responsibilities 42. The success of planning largely depends on the institutions and actors involved. Strong institutions will support the political vision of the plan and its implementation. 43. Responsibilities in the water and sanitation sectors are often horizontally fragmented among different ministries and departments and vertically fragmented between the national/central and local levels. This reality makes coordination between different sectors, such as health, education, agriculture and social welfare, and at different levels of Government, including municipalities and regions, essential. The roles and responsibilities of these different institutions should be defined clearly in planning and all of these stakeholders should be involved in the process of elaborating and implementing the plan. Where local governments are responsible for delivering services, it is essential that they are involved in planning from the beginning. Moreover, civil society must also be involved in the planning process, as should the private sector where relevant. Finally, while donors and international organizations will often take part, it must be ensured that the process is country-driven. To gain authority and legitimacy, the plan should be endorsed at the highest political level. 44. In Kenya, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation has been implementing reforms in the sector since 2004 based on the new Water Act of 2002, with the support of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (now known as the German Agency for International Cooperation). The Ministry retains responsibility for policy formulation and sector coordination. It has delegated regulation, pro-poor financing, investment planning and development, and service provision to the Water Services Regulatory Board, the Water Services Trust Fund, Water Services Boards and water service providers, respectively. This institutional set-up is explicitly laid out in the Water Act and the clear designation of roles and responsibilities across the national, regional and local level provides the basis for accountable institutions.29 45. Corruption in the water and sanitation sectors seriously undermines the functioning of institutions. Often, the most affected are people living in poverty - corruption perpetuates poverty by reducing efficiency, and undermines the rule of law and democracy. It can occur at all levels, regardless of whether services are managed by public or private providers.30 There are valuable measures that Governments can undertake to prevent corruption. For instance, the Integrity Pact developed by Transparency International is a tool aimed to help Governments, private companies and civil society prevent corruption in public contracting.31 1. Coordination to overcome fragmentation 46. To start planning for the implementation of the rights to water and to sanitation, Governments need to identify and designate the responsible ministry or ministries and department(s). Often, a range of institutions are responsible for different aspects, including the departments of health, infrastructure, environment, education, agriculture and water 29 30 31 12 André Lammerding et al., “All inclusive? How regulation in water and sanitation can be pro-poor: lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa”, German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), Regulation Brief No. 1 (August 2009), pp. 3-8. Transparency International, Global Corruption Report 2008: Corruption in the Water Sector (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2008), p. 6. Water Integrity Network and Transparency International, Integrity Pacts in the Water Sector (2010), p. 15. Available from www.transparency.org/content/download/58296/933272/IP_manual_water_sector.pdf.