Institutional Development for Water and Wastewater Companies

Project description

Title: Supporting Water Sector Development in Tanzania – Institutional Development in the Water Sector
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ)
Country: Tanzania
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Water
Overall term: 2004 to 2016

Context

The process of reforming the Tanzanian water sector is moving at a slow pace. Although new political and legal frameworks have been established, government institutions, water and sanitation companies, and water management authorities often lack the capacity to implement adopted reforms. Measures to enhance the capacity of actors to independently implement the reforms (capacity development) are thus extremely important. The demand for advisory services in this area from the Ministry of Water (MoW) and other institutions has increased.

Objective

The institutional and human resource capacities of commercial water and wastewater companies are improved.

Approach

The aim of the new strategic framework developed as part of the Water Sector Development Programme is to make the sector more efficient. Assessment and implementation guidelines were also drawn up for this purpose. The framework has been recognised by all stakeholders and serves as a basis for capacity development measures. In addition, it is to be an integral component in all institutional planning processes (business, budget and strategic plans) in the water sector.

By 2015, the project will provide nationwide training for water and wastewater companies in partnership with Hamburg Wasser’s subsidiary, Consulaqua, and its partners Consulting Engineers Salzgitter GmbH (CES) and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation of Uganda. The objective is to turn Tanzania’s water and wastewater companies into businesses that are commercially sustainable and focused on serving the population’s needs. The training sessions are geared towards the requirements of each firm: the utility itself determines the topics to be looked at and the main objective is to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the workplace. A new and promising approach is emerging in Tanzania which involves water utilities contributing financially to projects (for instance by covering travel costs).

The project is also working together with the Water Development and Management Institute (WDMI), a centre of expertise for technical training and research and development work operating in the framework of the Ministry of Waste’s guidelines. The project is supporting the WDMI in independently training students in order to meet the demand for specialists in the water sector. A needs assessment was conducted to this end, and new curricula for training courses have been developed and implemented based on its results.

There are ongoing efforts to strengthen the relatively new Association of Tanzanian Water Suppliers (ATAWAS) to enable it to provide professional support to water and wastewater companies.

There is also close cooperation between the fields of technical and financial cooperation as part of KfW Development Bank’s 7 Towns Urban Upgrading Programme (7TUUP), which aims to fund water and sanitation services in seven regional centres that have not had adequate service provision to date.
Tanzania. Capacity development workshop for institutional development in the water sector. © GIZ

Results achieved so far

Up until now, the project has advised a total of 90 regional, urban and national projects and supported them in drawing up capacity development strategies, reducing water loss and raising revenues, and also in developing business plans and budgeting.

Additional information