| Region: | Lukanga, Mulonga, Nkana and Southern region |
| Period: | 2022-2026 |
| Project partners: | Lukanga Water Supply and Sanitation company (LgWSC), Mulonga Water Supply and Sanitation company (MWSC), Nkana Water Supply and Sanitation company (NWSC), Southern Water and Sanitation company (SWSC) |
| Additional project partners: | National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO), Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation |
| Funding: | WaterWorX program by Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
WaterWorX project WOP Zambia
VEI has been present in Zambia for more than 10 years and represents our ongoing commitment to the Zambian water sector. Our latest project is part of the WaterWorX programme and will run from January 2022 until December 2026. Our current project involves collaboration with 4 utility partners, the regulator (NWASCO) and the responsible Ministry.
The project is organized around 3 ‘Workstreams’.
Workstream 1 is called ‘Utility working processes’ and under this workstream VEI works together with the 4 partner utilities on improving their technical and commercial operations. Our plan is to develop information systems (dashboards) for the commercial operations, work orders and cash-flow management. These information systems need to be embedded in the utility its operations and require technical (IT) and staff changes (skills and behaviour). Developing and implementing these changes should improve the utility its (financial) results, staff performance and customer satisfaction.
Workstream 2 is called ‘Enabling environment’ and under this workstream we focus on knowledge sharing and skills development. The participation of the regulator and ministry in the project is critical for this. Utility improvements developed in workstream 1 can be offered to all 11 Zambian water utilities, together with skills and leadership training. This allows us to increase the impact of the WaterWorX project beyond the 4 utility partners. International collaboration is facilitated through the WaterWorX program. The collaboration with the ministry and regulator enables the project to influence policy and the regulatory framework.
Mobilizing capital investments is the topic of workstream 3. Many people in Zambia still lack an adequate water supply and sanitation. Improvements in the performance of the utilities and the policy/regulatory framework need to be accompanied with capital investments to make a real impact. Investment needs are huge and widely diverse: service improvement and service expansion for water and sanitation are necessary. In the project we develop and implement Water for Life projects and source additional capital funds from the WaterWorX program as well as other (inter)national donors. VEI supports the utilities in improving their management of capital projects to make them less dependent on external support. At the same time VEI collaborates with the Zambian government in making Zambia a premier investment destination.
Collaboration is essential for VEI to make a project a success. Collaboration involves bringing Netherlands and international experts to Zambia and bringing Zambian experts to the Netherlands (and neighbouring countries) to share and learn. We collaborate within a tight framework for the project management to monitor performance and ensure accountability. To enhance on our impact we collaborate with other NGOs and sponsor Zambian staff positions in the Zambian water utilities.
Collaboration is our Zambian DNA.
For more information about the Zambian water sector: http://www.nwasco.org.zm/
For more information please contact:
Leo Meijer, Resident Project Manager in Zambia
Leo.meijer@vei.nl
