Sindh
Water & Sanitation Service Providers Gather in Peshawar to Build
Capacity & Improve Service Delivery
New
assessment revealed major areas of improvement in water and
sanitation service provision in Sindh, discussed by urban service
providers
A
new capacity assessment revealed major areas that need improvement in
urban water and sanitation service delivery in Sindh – following
the increase in demand for municipal services as identified in the
Willingness to Pay (WTP) Survey conducted by UN-Habitat earlier this
year. In order for the Government of Sindh to harness demand for
water and sanitation services, building the capacity of Sindh urban
service providers is a key element, therefore UN-Habitat arranged an
exposure visit to Water and Sanitation Services, Peshawar (WSSP),
which has effectively improved service delivery through initiation of
proper mechanisms and social mobilization.
Conducted
by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SPDI) and United
Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) with funding from
USAID through United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the capacity
assessment exercise was discussed at an exposure visit in Peshawar
last week. The visit is a part of multiple projects that seek to
mobilize communities to improve Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)
services in Sindh. It is a collaborative effort between UN-Habitat,
UNICEF, North Sindh Urban Services Corporation Limited (NSUSC),
Sukkur, the Municipal Services Delivery Program (MSDP), Government of
Sindh, Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), Hyderabad, Water and
Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP), and USAID.
The
capacity assessment identified that service providers in Sindh are
facing challenges regarding timely collection of solid waste
management, recovery of unpaid bills, maintenance of fixed assets or
inventory register, and also need to build capacity to centrally
control the supporting departments. The workshop contained
technical sessions on addressing the challenges
and included visits to operational sites which revealed
state-of-the-art methods adopted by WSSP and positive social
mobilization for better and improved services to meet the increased
demand. The exercise aimed to support the Government of Sindh in
taking necessary steps to ensure effective running of MSDP, WASA
Hyderabad, and NSUSC and devising necessary actions to improve
services in Sindh by learning from Peshawar’s urban service
providers.
According
to the press statement by Khanzeb, Chief Executive Officer – Water
and Sanitation Services, Peshawar, “Successful
municipal service delivery is a challenge for local government
institutions. In many parts of the country, existing facilities for
water supply, solid waste management, and sanitation are ineffective
and require immediate corrective measures. WSSP is continuously
improving its services and through this workshop, we aim to
facilitate learning of other urban service providers and extend our
support to UN-Habitat, UNICEF, and USAID to improve municipal service
delivery in Sindh.”
He
further added: “Equipped with the
necessary knowledge and expertise, Pakistan will be a step closer to
eradicating the concerns of the masses by setting up an effective and
modern WASH services structure.”
Irfan
S. Alrai – Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Specialist stated:
"UNICEF is in the process of increasing its efforts to
address urban WASH issues, taking into account the needs of urban
service providers as well as their comparative advantages to tackle
specific urban WASH challenges. UNICEF with the support of UN-Habitat
and other partners is supporting the community mobilization component
of the MSDP. Building the capacity of local authorities and service
providers, with the objective of making them perform better, both
with the aim to improve services for the urban dwellers in the City
of Jacobabad but also at the scale of the city to improve overall
sustainability and reliability is an important objective of the
programme. The national exposure visit to WSSP is an important
cross-learning event which will generate knowledge and evidence on
pro poor service delivery approaches being implemented by WSSP and
will help Sindh based service providers like NSUSC, MSDP and WASA
Hyderabad to learn from good practices and replicate them in their
respective jurisdictions"
Syed
Mohsin Nazar, Director – Finance, WASA Hyderabad said: “This
type of exposure visit will be help full for all water utilities to
exchange and learn more for preparing sustainable policies for
future.”
Mian
Muhammad Junaid, Basic Services Manager – UN-Habitat remarked:
"Successful public service
delivery systems require sustainable and efficient management of WASH
services, along with responsible social mobilization and behavioral
change communication with the public. We hope that this capacity
building exercise will help the urban service providers of Sindh
improve service delivery and harness demand for water and sanitation
services. UN-Habitat is thankful to WSSP for their continued support
for the betterment of WASH services in Pakistan.”
The
three-day exposure visit was conducted from September 21-23, 2016.
The capacity assessment was instrumental in identifying areas of
improvement and allowed urban service provides to evaluate the
on-ground scenario of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services
in Peshawar.
For
more information please contact:
Zara
Jamil – Communications focal point, UN-Habitat:
zara.jamil@unhabitat.org.pk
Faheem Ahmed –
Chief Executive Officer, Syntax Communications:
faheem.ahmed@syntaxcommunications.com
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