Setting up Pro-Poor Units to Improve Service Delivery

The Water and SanitationImprovingSetting Program Water up Utilityis pro-pooran Services units SeptemberFor 2009 international partnershipThe Poor forto Through improveimproving Delegated service water delivery and sanitation sectorManagement policies, practices, and capacities to serve poor people Field Note

Serving the Urban Poor

Setting up pro-poor units to improve service delivery

Lessons from water utilities in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia

This field note discusses proactive measures that utilities can take to serve the urban poor, particularly through the establishment of dedicated pro-poor departments or units. Water service delivery to poor people living in Africa’s large cities requires this special approach due to unclear land tenure, unplanned layout, overcrowding and lack of accurate data, among other challenges. Although water utility services should be at the center of water and sanitation delivery, many utilities do not yet have the mandate, organizational structure, incentives, or skills to adequately address these challenges.

Summary

The field note discusses how to reorient water and sanitation utilities to meet the needs of poor people in large urban settlements. It outlines the extent of the challenge in sub-Saharan Africa where enormous backlogs in service provision are building up as urban populations continue to grow at an average of 5 per cent annually (Kessides 2005).

The approach taken here is that water and sanitation utilities, whether public or privately owned, should be the primary drivers of service provision to all segments of the population. However, given the fact that well over half of Africa’s urban residents are poor and without access to affordable water and sanitation services, utilities will need to adapt their approach and structure in order to viably supply services to a significantly greater percentage of poor urban residents.

Service delivery to the poor in Africa’s large cities requires a special approach due to the challenges presented by unclear A Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company kiosk land tenure, unplanned layout, overcrowding, lack of accurate data, a historic lack of political water and sanitation expansion and The field note discusses proactive will to serve the poor and large cannot rely on non-governmental measures that utilities can take to distances to trunk infrastructure. organizations (NGOs) or the private achieve the necessary widespread The complexity of these challenges sector to serve the poor. However, impact, in particular setting up coupled with the magnitude of many utilities do not have the dedicated pro-poor departments or investment required and long-term mandate, organizational structure, units within water utility structures. maintenance needs means that incentives or skills to adequately utilities should be at the center of address these challenges.

ImprovingSetting Water up Utility pro-poor Services units For The Poorto Throughimprove Delegated service delivery Management

The context Figure 1. Water coverage

In sub-Saharan Africa most public and privately owned water and sanitation utilities in urban areas struggle to serve their poor consumers. And since poor urban residents make up 72 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa’s urban population (UN Habitat 2003) the challenge is acute. Clearly, an approach that meets the service needs of this huge and overlooked group of consumers is urgently needed. Source: Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) In 2006 only 35 per cent of urban residents in the region had a household water connection (see Figure 1). The sanitation situation (see Figure 2. Sanitation coverage Figure 2) is of even greater concern, with the number of urban residents using an unimproved source of sanitation or defecating in the open having increased from 59.6 million in 1990 to 76.6 million in 2006. With an average urban population growth rate of 5 per cent per year for Africa as a whole (Kessides 2005), the demand for both water and sanitation services is growing steadily.

Available statistics (WHO and UNICEF 2006) suggest that the number of Source: Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) unserved people in sub-Saharan Africa – rural and urban – will grow by a further 47 million for water and into disrepair due to insufficient cost ‘Business as usual’ not 91 million for sanitation between recovery and inadequate allowances working 2004 and 2015. The majority of for maintenance. Cost recovery and the new, urban customers will be also innovative finance mechanisms Any expansion of water and sanitation poor households living in inner city for new capital investments is in the region faces enormous slums or peri-urban settlements. especially important with the current challenges, since few utilities currently Achieving the MDG targets will international financial crisis, which have the mandate, organizational require specific reforms and actions makes funding levels for the sector structure, incentives, and skills to to prevent infrastructure from falling uncertain. address the challenges of serving

is invariably done on a piecemeal If governments and utilities continue the poor. To develop a vision and basis and without a link to the utility. to conduct their operations in the deal with underlying problems that In addition, the NGO commitment is traditional manner, services for impede delivery, utilities need stronger usually time-limited. poor people in the numbers that are political will and greater capacity, required are unlikely to materialize. and they should not have to rely on Community managers of kiosks and In the first place, most utilities do public toilets have limited technical, non-governmental organizations not have a government mandate to or the private sector to serve poor management and financial skills and serve the poor or to deal with on-site communities. may experience problems with social sanitation. Secondly, many utilities cohesion, or interference by interest As it stands, the approach to serving have neither the right skills nor groups, including local leaders or the poor by most governments and sufficient incentive to serve the poor. cartels (Dagdeviren & Robertson utilities is dysfunctional on both the By and large utility staff members are 2009). A link with the utility is crucial supply and the demand side. trained in a traditional (largely top- for both long-term maintenance and down) planning paradigm and are On the supply side, managers of ensuring that the poor benefit from the unaccustomed or unwilling to broker utilities are discouraged by the fact utility’s economies of scale. complex neighborhood agreements that the limited resources they expend or lead community discussions on serving the poor make little impact. (Connors et al. 2006). Utilities might Schemes for poor communities tend not understand their poor consumers to be economically unsustainable, The demography of urban or have the expertise to provide them communities are inadequately development with an appropriate range of services involved and long-term planning for such as public toilets, public taps, While the growth rate for expansion and maintenance is not shared yard taps, private connections, the Africa region has been generally factored into budgets and or sewerage systems suited to private averaging almost 5 per cent plans. Typically this situation is the homes in low-income areas. The annually over the past two result of a haphazard or project-by- pricing structures required to serve decades, the ‘take-off’ point project approach to serving low- a more inclusive range of market for growth in the urban income consumers, as opposed segments may not be sufficiently population is yet to come. to a mainstreamed, core-business researched or understood in relation approach. The continent is to connection fees and consumption approaching a demographic tariffs. On the demand side, the urban poor inflection point, with the are frustrated that utilities tend not to number of new urban see them as viable customers and do residents projected to rise Shift in perspective essential not provide services in a systematic sharply by over 300 million manner. Because the majority of poor Even if all utility managers, political between 2000 and 2030. people reside far from utility networks, planners, funding organizations and they generally resort to purchasing Already Africa’s population poor citizens agreed immediately water in small quantities at exorbitant is one third urbanized, that services should reach a much prices, or connecting to the network which is higher than South greater proportion of urban residents, illegally (Gulyani et al. 2005). Asia’s 28 per cent. the backlogs would continue to grow. Clearly a shift in perspective is Non-governmental organizations may needed, in particular a reconsideration provide communities with a borehole, Source: Kessides 2005 of the social and financial models water kiosk or public toilet, but this currently being used.

ImprovingSetting Water up Utility pro-poor Services units For The Poorto Throughimprove Delegated service delivery Management

The starting point should be al. 2008). Utilities should consider already in the pro-poor units operating acceptance of the reality that the poor incorporating a pro-poor unit into their in the Zambian capital Lusaka, and represent a huge untapped market in structure and corporate strategy. The Kampala in Uganda. most African cities. They pay more for purpose of such a unit would be to The appointment of dedicated, water than their richer counterparts improve coordination between and full-time staff to the unit will allow because they procure water amongst external partners and lead the utility to focus attention on informally through intermediaries the effort to: (Plummer 2002; WSP 2004). Practical current poor service users as well • Increase access and coverage experience and analysis shows as the unserved and work with that serving the poor effectively not • Increase utility revenue other departments to come up with innovative solutions. The utility should only addresses major public health • Reduce water losses issues but also makes good business ensure that the pro-poor unit does not sense for the utility. Taken together, • Improve relations with poor work in isolation or become a ‘ghetto’ these two outcomes would be of consumers that is not taken seriously by the considerable advantage to the utility other departments (Muller et al. 2008; at a political level. Structure and role of a Connors 2006). The actual design or ‘home’ for such a unit will depend on Clearly utilities (and governments) pro-poor unit the utility’s structure, its operational need to formulate a strategy aimed The idea of such a unit is to ensure challenges and the size of the service specifically at extending services that the utility proactively improves area. to poor citizens. Such a strategy services to the poor, rather than needs to take into account the fact responding on an ad hoc basis. that individually, poor people may be Ideally, a pro-poor unit should be small consumers but collectively they Centralized or decentralized structured in a way that allows it to structures constitute a major market segment. lobby for action and coordinate pro- poor activities across a number of The advantages of centralizing or departments. These would include the decentralizing the unit – or creating departments responsible for planning, a hybrid of the two – will vary from Implementing a commercial services, technical utility to utility and may change over matters, human resources and time. In Uganda’s National Water and pro-poor strategy communications. Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) the Utilities should take the leading There is no standard blueprint for pro-poor unit has a field office where role in providing urban services a pro-poor unit. Some common customers can pay bills, apply for a because they are the only entity features for an effective unit would new connection, or report problems. with the necessary resources and be (i) management support, (ii) a The pro-poor field office supports infrastructure to accomplish the large- clear mandate and incentives, (iii) the other traditional field offices scale impact that is now required. adequate financial resources, and throughout the city, and is supported Non-governmental organizations and (iv) the appropriate mix of skills to be by staff members at the corporation’s the local private sector also have a able to deliver services effectively. To Kampala headquarters, who drive the role to play in improving services to achieve extensive and lasting results, pro-poor investment programs. the poor and can be useful ‘in helping incentives should be established for In Zambia’s Lusaka Water and users to understand the technical all utility staff – not only those within Sewerage Company (LWSC), the and financial issues that affect their the unit – to serve the poor. A pro- manager of the pro-poor unit is based services, and to build, diffuse, and poor unit could have the capacity for maintain that knowledge’ (Muller et day-to-day operations, as is the case at the company headquarters, and

13 other full-time staff members are Table 1. Range of possible tasks (all specific to serving the poor) based in peri-urban field offices. In Kenya’s Nairobi City Water and • Preparing investment plans Sewerage Company (NCWSC), the • Designing infrastructure/preparing projects entire staff complement of the pro- poor unit is based at headquarters, • Laying pipes although the company is now • Connecting customers considering placing community • Coordinating with development partners development assistants in the field offices because customer interface is • Coordinating with public institutions so fundamental to serving the poor. • Liaising with other utility departments • Sensitizing and training utility staff Focus of unit • Interfacing with water tanker operators A pro-poor unit needs to decide on its • Interfacing with exhauster operators area of focus. Should it concentrate • Designing special initiatives (e.g. social connections, lifeline tariff, on corporate planning and capital pre-paid meters) works, operations and maintenance – or both? Some units lay the pipes • Preparing budgets or issue kiosk contracts themselves, • Community consultations while others are mainly in a liaison • Physical mapping role, working across a utility to engage engineering staff for network • Socioeconomic mapping extensions to low-income areas, for • Monitoring progress example. • Preparing strategies and guidelines The pro-poor branch of Uganda’s NWSC is responsible for day-to-day • Issuing contracts for private operators customer services. It also works • Training communities on operations and maintenance (O & M) of closely with development partners shared facilities and has a mandate to pilot new • Resolving customer complaints initiatives, such as prepaid meters. In Tanzania, the community liaison unit of the Dar es Salaam Water Articulating a shared vision services in the urban poor and Sewerage Authority (DAWASA) settlements in the world through implements construction projects in A dedicated pro-poor unit should provision of innovative solutions coordination with NGO partners and have a mission statement and a vision with emphasis on partnerships and that it communicates to internal and provides guidance to community- community involvement in order to external partners. As an example, the managed schemes. While DAWASA is improve the living condition of the vision statement of Uganda’s National the asset holding company mandated urban poor. to develop and manage assets, it has Water and Sewerage Corporation pro- also taken on more of an operations poor unit is: The key words defining this vision are ‘innovation’, ‘partnerships’ and role for peri-urban, off-network To be a model in delivery of ‘community involvement’. While these schemes. sustainable water and sanitation

ImprovingSetting Water up Utility pro-poor Services units For The Poorto Throughimprove Delegated service delivery Management

Filling up jerrycans of water in Nairobi slums concepts cannot themselves result settlements, where 60 per cent between government and utilities, in productive action, the vision is a of the city’s population resides. which specify the level and extent of conceptual starting point from which Senegal’s privately owned operator services to poor communities. These to set more concrete milestones and - Sénégalaise des Eaux (SDE) - has pave the way for utilities to adjust their targets. targets in its lease contract for the own corporate objectives. Komives volumetric amount of water distributed (1999) recommends that policymakers to consumers. As a result of setting ‘weigh how contracts and Setting targets these specified targets, as well as regulation are likely to affect private The adoption of pro-poor overall performance improvements concessionaires’ ability, obligations, performance targets helps to ensure and subsidized connections, 98 per and financial incentives to serve that utilities deliver on their social cent of Senegal’s urban population low-income households.’ Targets and financial mandates. The Nairobi has access to safe water (World Bank should be clear and not subject to City Water and Sewerage Company’s 2008). ‘reinterpretation’ by the operator (Dagdeviren & Robertson 2009). FY10 performance contract with What can other countries learn from the Government of Kenya (through Senegal’s coverage to poor people? In addition to the overall targets, the asset holding company) will A key factor in Senegal’s success has individual utility employees could have include specific targets for informal been the existence of lease contracts their own clearly defined, pro-poor

• Coordinate with external Table 2. Examples of pro-poor performance indicators partners.

Water Sanitation The examples provided (see Table 2) are not exhaustive and do not replace Number of new connections Number of new connections traditional targets like production • Private • Private connection capacity per capita or the percentage • Shared yard tap • Shared sewerage connection of non-revenue water. However, • Public kiosk/standpipe • Public toilet (sewer) the incorporation of some or all of • Public toilet (septic tank) the recommended targets across the utility will help ensure that the pro-poor unit does not rely solely on Percentage of metered connections Collection rate (actual income/total billed) the goodwill of its staff (Connors & • Private • Private Brocklehurst 2006). • Shared yard tap • Shared yard tap • Public kiosk/standpipe • Public kiosk/standpipe Creating a supportive environment Hours of supply per day Percentage of water quality samples in compliance The pro-poor unit will need strong support from the utility senior management and the board of directors. The utility should targets. To make this happen, a utility quantitative targets set for each adopt a corporate strategy that will need a performance management indicator will depend on factors such specifically includes services to poor system that includes employee and as historical performance and the communities and assigns a high- departmental performance targets, level of investment. Targets will also ranking status to the unit. The head of along with systematic evaluations. depend on special initiatives, such as the unit is more likely to be effective The utility should encode its accounts subsidized connections, which may if he or she is a senior manager in such a way that progress in serving affect the number of expected new reporting directly to the utility head or poor customers can be monitored. connections. other senior director. The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage When measuring the extent to which Company completed such a ‘coding’ The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage targets have been achieved, the exercise in 2009. The ability to Company has recently adopted indicators should be segregated for differentiate customers residing in guidelines for serving the poor (i) the entire service area, (ii) non-poor informal settlements from others in collaboration with its asset- areas, and (iii) poor areas. means it can now set realistic targets holding company, the Athi Water 1 for serving informal settlements with The indicators given in Table 2 are Services Board . The guidelines indicators that can be monitored and likely to encourage utility staff to: were developed in consultation with evaluated. NCWSC staff members, NGOs, • Increase access to water and and the World Bank’s Water and sanitation in low-income areas. Indicators and targets should focus Sanitation Program (WSP). on outputs rather than inputs, for • Improve the management of example serving customers well standposts. rather than just connecting them and meeting minimum obligations • Reduce the number of illegal 1 The Nairobi guidelines are available online at http://www.wsp.org/UserFiles/file/Af_Nairobi_Strategic_ (Connors & Brocklehurst 2006). The connections. Guidelines.pdf

ImprovingSetting Water up Utility pro-poor Services units For The Poorto Throughimprove Delegated service delivery Management

Figure 3. Organization of the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority

Chief Executive

Legal Affairs Quality Assurance

Procurement Community

Finance Technical Administration

Financial Advisor Engineering Advisor

Planning & Service Progress Performance Environmental Services Planning Delivery Monitoring Compliance

Contracts Accounts Finance Administration Human Institutional Support Resources Development

In the Nairobi utility the head of Pro-poor units’ impact will be without depending solely on project the pro-poor unit reports to the greater if governments hold utilities and donor funds. Its budget should NCWSC technical director. In the accountable to serving the poor, while be incorporated into the utility’s Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage also supporting the eradication of overall budgeting process. Senior Authority, the head of the equivalent free standpipes, illegal connections management will have to make unit (in this case the Community and unregulated groundwater decisions such as whether the unit’s Liaison Unit), reports directly to the abstraction. Utilities generally need activities should be cross-subsidized chief executive officer (see Figure 3). political support to extend services through internal revenues, and The prominent positioning of both to poor settlements, among other whether the unit will have an annual these units is important, because reasons, because they invariably have budget. it indicates to staff and partners to contend with complicated land- that providing services to poor There may be a need to consider ownership issues. constituencies is an integral part of increasing staff numbers in other the utility. It also means that utilities departments if improving services can attract managers for their pro- Committing resources to the poor results in significantly poor units who are well qualified and increased workloads in these able to take their place alongside A pro-poor unit needs dedicated departments. Whatever the approach other senior managers in decision- human and financial resources so adopted for allocating financial and making forums. that it can carry out its mandate human resources to a pro-poor unit,

it should be explicitly defined, and listening and responding effectively to In general, utility staff are accustomed periodically evaluated. users’ concerns (Baietti et al. 2006). to dealing with customers as Other useful skills for the unit include individuals, but the political and Some utilities may start out with mapping, marketing, and public economic dynamics of low-income a fully-fledged pro-poor unit while relations but these may drawn from areas will require them to address others might start small with a vision the utility’s other departments. community issues. to expand. In general pro-poor units will need core funds for staff salaries, The Dar es Salaam Water and training, office space, vehicles and Sewerage Authority’s pro-poor other equipment. Informal settlements unit holds regular meetings with community groups to discuss Unit managers or team leaders should units require staff with the following skill set and challenges and help resolve issues. have the necessary qualifications experiences: to occupy a senior management Nairobi City Water and Sewerage post. While a university degree • Participatory Company’s pro-poor unit frequently is preferable, more important is assessments holds community meetings in informal familiarity with the local water • Participatory planning settlements to explain the water and sanitation sector, a good and design reforms to customers, promote water understanding of poor community conservation and payment, and dynamics, strong leadership and • Identifying and mobilizing consult with communities on their communication skills and the ability key stakeholders priorities for improvements. to deliver results. The rest of the team • Liaising with small scale New pro-poor units may have to should ideally include one or more providers consider hiring staff from outside engineers, plumbers, sociologists, • Using appropriate the utility if the required skills are not and community development officers. technologies available among existing staff. Frontline staff may need training in

Queuing for water in Zambia

10 ImprovingSetting Water up Utility pro-poor Services units For The Poorto Throughimprove Delegated service delivery Management

Table 3. Summary of pro-poor unit examples

Country Kenya Tanzania Uganda Zambia

Utility Nairobi City Water & Dar es Salaam Water & National Water & Lusaka Water & Sewerage Company Sewerage Authority Sewerage Corporation, Sewerage Company Kampala Branch

Name Informal Settlements Community Liaison Urban Pro-Poor Peri-urban Department Unit (CLU) Branch Department

Date 2008 2003 2006 1999 established

Population Approximately 1.9 Approximately Approximately Approximately 1.5 in poor million (60% of 900,000 (36% of the 450,000 (20% of the million (60% of the settlements Nairobi’s population) total population)2 total population) total population)

Number of 6 (expansion plans 5 10 14 full-time are underway) staff of unit

Staff - Manager - Manager - Manager - Manager composition of unit - Technicians (2) - Communications - Technical Supervisor (1) - Zone Heads (3) - Lead Sociologist (1) Specialist (1) - Plumbers (1) - Senior Engineer (1) - Assistant - Engineers (2) - Commercial Staff (1) - Engineer (1) Sociologist (1) - Technician (1) - Social Workers (4) - Superintendents (2) - Secretary (1) - Cashier (1) - Asst Community - IT support (1) Development Officers (4) - Customer Services Assistants (3) - Foreman (1) - Community-based, Contract Plumbers (41)

Model used Headquarters Headquarters Branch Office Headquarters and Department Department Branch Office

2Government of Tanzania’s 2002-2003 Household Budget Survey

11 (Continuation) Table 3. Summary of pro-poor unit examples

Country Kenya Tanzania Uganda Zambia

Utility Nairobi City Water & Dar es Salaam Water & National Water & Lusaka Water & Sewerage Company Sewerage Authority Sewerage Corporation, Sewerage Company Kampala Branch

Purpose To coordinate To implement To execute NWSC’s Coordination, donor and and supervise mandate to help implementation partner initiatives; the community- meet the Millennium and operations of implement capital managed water and Development Goals services in peri- work programs (in sanitation schemes; by providing support urban and informal coordination with the also responsible to NWSC branches in settlements. asset holder); and for DAWASA public the city of Kampala provide guidance and relations and with informal support to branch implementing the settlements; and to offices for O & M and resettlement action work with HQ and social issues. plan (RAP). donors to implement capital works programs targeting the urban poor.

Provided Starting in FY09-10 Yes Yes Yes with annual budget

Reporting The Department The CLU manager The Branch Manager The Peri-urban Head reports to the reports to the CEO. reports to the Manager reports Technical Director General Manager to the Commercial (who then reports of Kampala and the Director (who then to the Managing Project Manager reports to the Director). of Urban Poor Managing Director). Projects (located at headquarters).

Novel Strong focus Off-network schemes Pre-paid meters. Semi-autonomous approaches on community in peri-urban areas. branch in informal participation and settlements, partnerships. partnerships with Community Water Trusts.

12 ImprovingSetting Water up Utility pro-poor Services units For The Poorto Throughimprove Delegated service delivery Management

Office of the Master Operator - Line 4

Polluted river passing through Nairobi slum

Lessons from The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage encouraging regional staff to express Company’s pro-poor unit was created the challenges they face and propose existing pro-poor mainly as a liaison unit based at solutions. units headquarters. However, the utility has In Uganda, Kampala’s pro-poor found that in the branch offices the branch office has been able to The pro-poor units in Kenya, Tanzania, utility staff is reluctant to serve the increase its revenue collection twenty- Uganda and Zambia demonstrate poor for a variety of reasons. With fold since its creation in 2006. It that a utility’s approach to serving the the support of the utility’s managing attributes this to a close relationship poor cannot be static. Good practices director, the unit is launching a with customers. The pro-poor branch evolve through a learning process that campaign to redefine its role in office connects approximately 50 evaluates changes in the environment, relation to the branch offices and new customers a month. However, identifies successes and failures, and for the branch offices to incorporate before replicating the model in other institutionalizes lessons (Townsend & pro-poor targets. The company cities, the corporation is evaluating Gebhardt 2007). uses a participatory approach; whether this branch model (versus a

13 headquarters department for example) sanitation projects within LWSC’s area clustering of smaller schemes to is the most effective method to of jurisdiction must do so through the achieve economies of scale. While achieve its goal of improved services company. This will avoid duplication DAWASA has known that the link with for the city’s poor. of projects and also takes into the private operator (Dar es Salaam account LWSC’s area of responsibility. Water and Sewerage Company) is Despite having the mandate and The company is currently working crucial for day-to-day service delivery dedicated human resources, the with the regulator on specific issues to the poor, the operator has been Lusaka Water and Sewerage involving independent providers, such hesitant to commit significantly to Company’s peri-urban unit is as tariff and water quality regulation delivering services in off-grid areas, struggling to gain priority within and maintenance responsibilities. where many of the poor live. However, the company’s operations. Due to DAWASA has recently made some government pressure the unit has had Many of Dar es Salaam’s community- progress in getting the operator to to rethink its initial mandate, which managed schemes for delivering mainstream pro-poor approaches, was to focus on poor people served water have fallen into disrepair or are through the creation of a social directly by LWSC (not by community poorly managed, so the asset holding connection fund financed through trusts or NGOs). The company has company (Dar es Salaam Water and a tax levy. Discussions are also reached an agreement with the Sewerage Authority) is now promoting underway for the operator to establish Ministry of Local Government and a business-like approach to managing its own pro-poor unit, which would Lusaka City Council that all donors, water and sanitation schemes. This work closely with the asset-holding NGOs, and other stakeholders involves hiring a project manager company’s pro-poor unit. interested in undertaking water or for each of the schemes and the

Toilet structures in Mukuru slum, Nairobi

14 ImprovingSetting Water up Utility pro-poor Services units For The Poorto Throughimprove Delegated service delivery Management

Conclusion Traditionally water and sanitation utilities in Africa have not devoted much attention to serving poor people despite demographic trends indicating that the growth rate of urban dwellers is increasing, and the fact that poor people can and already do pay for services. It is clear that African governments and the utilities providing water and sanitation services need to pay more attention to serving their poor citizens.

The four examples presented of pro- poor units in eastern and southern Africa operate in complicated social, political and economic environments. Nonetheless, they are clear examples of utilities committing resources and actively working with partners to improve services to the poor. These utilities are moving beyond the purely technical towards a more coordinated, city-wide approach.

Setting up a dedicated pro-poor unit is not an end in itself, it is a tool to help utilities plan and implement improved services to the poor on Manual sludge exhausters in Mukuru slum (Nairobi) both a strategic and programmatic basis. Utilities and their pro-poor units should be frequently evaluated to Serving the Urban Poor ensure progress towards to the end This series of field notes on Serving the Urban Poor aims to provide lessons goal - access to more affordable and to public sector decision-makers, managers and implementers, and their reliable water and sanitation services private partners, to tackle the challenges of service delivery to the urban for the poor poor. The series is concerned with the key issues and actions necessary to improve the scale and rate of progress towards the MDGs in urban areas: making utility reform work for the poor; enhancing the role of local private providers; promoting incentive driven, predictable enabling environments; and strengthening consumer voice and mechanisms to improve the accountability of service providers.

15 References

Baietti A, Kingdom W & Van Ginneken M (2006). Characteristics of Well- Performing Public Water Utilities. Water Supply & Sanitation Working Note No. 9. Washington, DC: World Bank. Water and Sanitation Program-Africa Connors G (2007). ‘Watering the Slums: How a Utility and its Street Level The World Bank Bureaucrats Connected the Poor in Bangalore.’ PhD Thesis. Massachusetts Hill Park Building Institute for Technology. Cambridge, Mass. Upper Hill Road PO Box 30577 - 00100 Connors G & Brocklehurst C (2006). Connecting the slums: A utility’s pro-poor Nairobi, Kenya approach in Bangalore. Water and Sanitation Program-South Asia. Phone: +254 20 322-6334 Dagdeviren H & Robertson S (2009). Access to Water in the Slums of the Fax: +254 20 322-6386 Developing World. Working Paper No. 57. Brasilia, Brazil: International Policy E-mail: [email protected] Center for Inclusive Growth. Web site: www.wsp.org Gulyani S, Kariuki M & Talukdar D (2005). Water for the Urban Poor: Water Markets, Household Demand, and Services Preferences in Kenya. Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Board Discussion Paper Series. Paper No. 5. Washington, DC: World Bank.

Joint Monitoring Programme (2008). Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation- A Special Focus on Sanitation. WHO & UNICEF: USA.

Kessides C (2005). The Urban Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for September 2009 Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction. Cities Alliance, Washington, DC. WSP MISSION Komives K (1999). Designing Pro-Poor Water and Sewer Concessions: Early WSP’s mission is to support poor people in Lessons from Bolivia. Policy Research Working Paper No. 2243. World Bank, obtaining affordable, safe, and sustainable Washington DC. access to water and sanitation services.

Muller M, Simpson R & Van Ginneken M (2008). Ways to Improve Water Services WSP FUNDING PARTNERS Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, by Making Utilities More Accountable to Their Users: A Review. Water Supply & Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sanitation Working Note No. 15. Washington, DC: World Bank. Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, The World Bank, and the Bill and Plummer J & Heymans C (2002). Focusing Partnerships: A Sourcebook Melinda Gates Foundation. for Municipal Capacity Building in Public-private Partnerships. Earthscan Publications: London, UK. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Townsend P & Gebhardt J (2007). How Organizations Learn: Investigate, Identify, This paper was written by Vivian Castro of the Institutionalize. Milwaukee, WI: ASQ. Water and Sanitation Program-Africa (WSP-AF). United Nations Human Settlements Program (2003). The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements. Earthscan Publications: London and Peer review was done by Francis Ato Brown, Sterling, VA. Meike van Ginneken and Genevieve Connors of the World Bank; Wambui Gichuri, Dennis Water Utility Partnership for Capacity Building (WUP) Africa (2003). Better Water Mwanza, Jean Doyen, Rosemary Rop, and and Sanitation for the Urban Poor: Good Practice from Sub-Saharan Africa. Peter Hawkins of WSP-AF; Rose Kaggwa and David Isingoma of the National Water Nairobi, Kenya. and Sewerage Corporation (Uganda); George World Bank (2008). Project Information Document - ‘Concept Stage for Water Ndongwe and Astrid Banda of the Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company (Zambia); and Sanitation Millennium Program in Senegal’. Report No. AB4210.Washington, Neli Msuya of the Dar es Salaam Water D.C.: World Bank. and Sewerage Authority (Tanzania); and Celestine Kaseve of the Nairobi City Water and World Health Organization & United Nations Children’s Fund (2006). Meeting the Sewerage Company (Kenya). MDG Drinking Water and Sanitation Target: the Urban and Rural Challenge of the Decade. Switzerland. Editing by Mindy Stanford.

WSP (2004). ‘Increasing Access: The Experience of Small-Scale Water Providers Photographs courtesy of Kenya Water in Serving the Poor in Metro Manila’, WSP Website, www.wsp.org/UserFiles/file/ Services Trust Fund and © WSP/Vivian eap_Inc_access.pdf Castro.

Created by Eric Lugaka