Making Anti-Corruption Approaches Work for the Poor

Anti-corruption activity has intensified in recent years but there has been little specific discussion about how this activity will be formulated to ensure it brings benefit to the poor. The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness of the need for greater attention to the poor in the development of anti-corruption strategies and to discuss some of the key issues that might affect the development of a pro-poor anti-corruption strategy for the water sector. It first consider show corruption impacts on poverty, and how it affects their livelihoods. It then describes some of the key factors that determine corruption-in-water in relation to the poor, and how this corruption field creates experiences different from those of non-poor citizens and users. Finally, borrowing in part from the efforts of other sectors, it suggests three basic principles in the development of a pro-poor anti-corruption water sector strategy – integration, targeting and mitigation– and focuses particularly on how anti-corruption efforts can be better targeted to support poverty reduction.