2ML Consulting Limited REACHING THE UN-SERVED URBAN POOR: EXPERIENCES FROM UGANDA A Presentation at the Pakistan Urban Water Forum Dr. William T Muhairwe and Gerald Ahabwe 11 th January 2014, Karachi, Pakistan 1

Thank You for Your Attention! 2

Presentation Outline “ Any one who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor. ” ― James A. Baldwin; American Author 1. Background 2. Who are the Urban Poor? 3. Why Serve the Poor? 5. Lessons learnt 3 4. How we serve the Urban Poor

BACKGROUND 4  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? 5 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  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? 6  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: 7  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! 8  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 9 Drawing water from a protected spring

PRO-POOR SERVICE CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT – Innovative ways of serving the poor 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 place 10 A pre-paid public stand pipe for Urban Poor

Principles of a Pre-paid Meter System 11

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

LESSONS LEARNT and CONCLUSION…1 13  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, SL World Bank USAID/ SUWASA, S. Sudan Global Water Leaders’ Group- UK NWSC, Uganda Tetra Tech DFID Institutions We Work With: Adam Smith International/GVWC, SL World Bank USAID/ SUWASA, S. Sudan Global Water Leaders’ Group- UK NWSC, Uganda Tetra Tech DFID Contact Us: Plot 32 Lumumba Avenue P.O. Box 31456, Kampala, Uganda Tel: Wesley Street Freetown, Sierra Leone Tel: Contact Us: Plot 32 Lumumba Avenue P.O. Box 31456, Kampala, Uganda Tel: Wesley Street Freetown, Sierra Leone Tel: 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 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 14

2ML Consulting Limited Thank You For Your Attention 15