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2ML Consulting Limited

REACHING THE UN-SERVED URBAN POOR:EXPERIENCES FROM UGANDA

REACHING THE UN-SERVED URBAN POOR:EXPERIENCES FROM UGANDA

A Presentation at the Pakistan Urban Water Forum

Dr. William T Muhairwe and Gerald Ahabwe11th January 2014, Karachi, Pakistan

Thank You for Your Attention!

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Presentation Outline

“Any one who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor. ”

― James A. Baldwin; 1924-1987

American Author

1. Background1. Background

2. Who are the Urban Poor? 2. Who are the Urban Poor?

3. Why Serve the Poor?3. Why Serve the Poor?

5. Lessons learnt5. Lessons learnt

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4. How we serve the Urban Poor4. How we serve the Urban Poor

BACKGROUND

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National Water and Sewerage Corporation has the mandate as a parastatal to manage piped water and sewerage services in Uganda’s large towns.

NWSC Customers are categorised by tariff

Domestic

Commercial

Institutional/Government

Public stand pipes ( Urban poor)

There are service delivery Gaps on the latter category (Urban Poor)

WHO ARE THE URBAN POOR?

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No class room definition; defined by their socio-economic characteristics.

Survive on less than 1.3 USD/day and don’t own land

Live in informal settlements characterized by poor housing structures (temporary roof, wall, floor)

Don’t have personal water connections Buy water from vendors and/or get from

springs Earn irregular income Population density of 400/hectare

compared to average 73 persons/hectare in rest of Kampala

The Urban Poor in Kampala number to some 600,000 people (WSP,2010).

Typical Settlements for Urban Poor in Kampala

WHY SERVE THE URBAN POOR?

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It is NWSC’s Corporate Social Responsibility

It is in line with Political Mandate, Vision 2040, National Development plan, President’s Manifesto

WATER IS A BASIC RIGHT FOR HEALTH, IN LINE WITH THE MDGS

Equity in Service Delivery

THE URBAN POOR ARE GOOD PAYERS

Supports the management of NRW through mitigation of commercial water losses

Queuing for water

TYPICAL TRADITIONAL WAYS OF SERVICE DELIVERY IN URBAN POOR SETTLEMENTS

Service delivery in Urban Poor Settlements is typically characterized by some of the following:

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Public water kiosks

Water vendors

Unsafe boreholes & Springs

Communal toilets/pit latrines

which are often shallow due to

high water table

Poor Access and Drainage at an Unprotected Water Source

PRO-POOR SERVICE CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT- WHAT WE FOUND OUT!

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NWSC WATSAN Studies in1996 & 2002 found that the poor were paying way too much compared to other consumers.

The Urban Poor mainly got water from private operators who charged between 5-10 times the official tariff. Those who could not afford fetched from contaminated springs.

Monthly Billing System for NWSC suited salaried employees and not those in informal employment

NWSC then had a supply driven approach and did not have strong institutional presence in informal settlements

By 2003 out of 1400 PSP’s in Kampala, 800 were disconnected due to Non Payment

PRO-POOR SERVICE CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT – WHAT WE DID?

Partnerships with users and local authorities through extensive community mobilization

GOT LAND FOR PRE PAID INSTALLATION AND TOILET CONTRUCTION FORM THE COMMUNITY.

Networked with the existing CBOs/NGOs

SUBSIDISED ONLY ACCESS BUT NOT CONSUMPTION

Social marketing to create demand

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Drawing water from a protected spring

PRO-POOR SERVICE CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT – Innovative ways of serving the poor

1. Introduction of yard taps

2.Introduction of pre paid meter technology

3. Put a pro-poor Urban Unit in place10

A pre-paid public stand pipe for Urban Poor

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Principles of a Pre-paid Meter System

RESULTS

The Urban Pro-poor Unit is in place and functional

NWSC presence and Corporate image in informal settlements enhanced

Over 1,700 prepaid meters installed and 200 communal toilets built and handed over to the users.

30 Points of Sale in Kampala for credit recharge. This also enhances livelihoods of credit vendors

Over 30,000 tokens issued serving an estimated 250,000 urban poor persons.

Consumer consumption has increased 5 fold in informal settlements because of the removal of middlemen

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H.E. The President of Uganda Launching Pre-paid Meters in an Informal

Settlement in Kampala

LESSONS LEARNT and CONCLUSION…1

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Politically: voter catchers for the pliticians Socially: Image builder for the company for

serving the poor Economically: a)Cash cow for the company AND

serving the poor attracts Donor support, World Bank, KFW, ADB, AFDB, NGO and other foundations

Lastly: The Poor are the most grateful of all our customers. They appreciate very much the service given to them!!!!

2ML Consulting Limited: What We Do

Institutions We Work With:Adam Smith International/GVWC,

SLWorld Bank USAID/ SUWASA, S.

SudanGlobal Water Leaders’ Group- UKNWSC, UgandaTetra TechDFID

Contact Us:Plot 32 Lumumba AvenueP.O. Box 31456, Kampala, UgandaTel: +256 702 200 264

Wesley StreetFreetown, Sierra LeoneTel: +232 76 128 628www.2mlConsulting.com.

We have a team of experienced consultants that work together to deliver tailor-made capacity building solutions that help turnaround organizational performance.

Some of the modules we offer include:

Leadership Training, Coaching & Mentoring

Management Consultancy– (Change Management, Restructuring, Remodelling and Rightsizing etc), Stakeholder Management, Corporate Governance

Performance Improvement Programmes

Institutional Development & Business Re-Engineering

Short to Medium-Term Transitional Management

Commercialization and Customer Care

Countries that we currently operate in include : Uganda, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Zambia, South Sudan, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Zambia

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2ML Consulting Limited

Thank You For Your AttentionThank You For Your Attention