Stella Kwebiha social mobiliser Mid-Western Umbrella Uganda
Social mobiliser, Uganda
Published on: 08/08/2024
Professional service providers must ensure safe, sustainable water and meet demand. But what does it take to be professional and raise the service standards for everyone? Stella Kwebiha shares the story of Midwestern Umbrella of Water and Sanitation in Uganda, and how it transitioned from being a support entity to being a drinking water service provider.
“I’m Stella. I come from Mubende District. I'm married in Kyenjojo district, that is where my husband comes from. I have three children and I run two small businesses around Kyenjojo. I sell stationery items. I also sell hair pieces. That is some of the work that I do outside office. I'm a bit reserved. I don’t talk a lot. However, I’m able to engage with communities, because that is my work and I love it.
I work as a social mobiliser with the Midwestern Umbrella of Water and Sanitation. We provide water to the community. I interact with the community a lot.
Safe water to me, means that water should not be dirty. It shouldn’t have any colour. It should not be smelling. When water is safe, you know that you will be healthy. When I look at my home, I’d like to wash my clothes with clean water, because I shouldn’t fail to buy a white dress just because of water that is dirty, that is something that I would like to see in a home, water should be clean, so that we can enjoy it.
I started working with the Midwestern Umbrella of Water and Sanitation way back in 2007. By that time, it was a supporting entity. It would bring together Water Supply and Sanitation Boards. It would ensure they managed water supply systems without running to government for any support. We provided technical backstopping. In case there was a pump breakdown, we would send engineers to support in that area.
The Ministry of Water and Environment rearranged the Umbrella organisations. In 2017, we went into direct management. The beginning was not easy. We really didn’t know what we were supposed to do. We knew that we were supposed to supply water and we were supposed to collect money. With the support of WSUP Advisory we got a sense of direction. They have given us knowledge. They’ve mentored us.
We began by ensuring that we increase our financial base. We had a programme, called Financial Recovery Programme. So, we were able to succeed in that. Later, we realised that though we’ve been able to increase our revenue collection, we need the customer. How do we bring the customer closer to the Umbrella? With support from WSUP, we ran a programme called "Umbrella for the Customer". With that programme we worked out how to ensure that the customer is satisfied with our services.
One of the things that we did was to acquire a toll-free number, whereby customers would call in when they have any issues, when they were not happy with the service and then these issues would be addressed.
We also had issues with [piped water] connections. We would delay to connect a customer. We came up with a Customer Service Charter. This Charter spells out our commitment to the customer, and what we expect from the customer. For example, we say in the Charter that we are going to arrange a [piped water] connection within 14 days. And we have been able to achieve that, though at times there are some delays, but at least now we can give a connection within 14 days. The Charter also says, we ‘listen to the customer’. So, whenever we are in the field, we ensure that when a customer has an issue, we give them time, listen to their issue and address it. The Charter also talks about water quality, the billing cycle, and bill distribution. We are supposed to distribute the bills within five days and ensure that each customer gets a bill. This is all to ensure that the customer is satisfied with our service.
I feel a lot has been done to bring the customer closer to the Umbrella. In some areas, if I would estimate, around 85% of our customers are satisfied with our services to the extent that they are now demanding that the Umbrella organisation should take over [other water] schemes.
When we transitioned, it generated a lot of work. You'll be called that there is a burst somewhere. The person who is calling you doesn’t know if you are a social mobiliser, they just call. When I receive these calls, I ensure that I inform the person responsible for customer care, to ensure that the issues are addressed.
The transition also came with another challenge, the issue of affordability of water. Previously some people were used to free water. With direct management, we had to ensure that everybody, every customer, pays for water, and receives a bill at the end of the month. This is a challenge. Some people do not want to pay for water.
During the transition period, when we took over a system from the Water Supply and Sanitation Boards, at times we got resistance from the local leaders. Remember that these people were collecting money from water users. This money is supposed to cover operation and maintenance of a water supply system, but at times, would be misused by the Water Boards.
The other challenge we face is with [water] schemes that are old. Improving them takes time, yet the community expects you to improve it immediately. When we don’t have it ready within a month or two, we get complaints.
I’d like to thank WSUP Advisory for the support that they have given us. I would say that to a certain extent I owe my success to them. I would like to promise that I will not let them down. They identified capacity gaps among our staff, and we were trained in different aspects: commercial, technical, financial. With that we have been able to improve on service delivery. Due to the training and the financial support, we were able to move.
At the time we began, we were collecting around 46.000.0000 [Ugandan Shillings], but now we moved up to 300.000.000 [Ugandan Shillings]. So, there is a lot of improvement, but the transition wasn’t easy. It wasn’t easy at all.
We’ve been handheld for some time. At least now we are somewhere. At least now we are walking, and I know at times we are running, and I know at times the Umbrella will be self-sustainable.
Through working with the communities, I made friends. I can talk to the leaders easily, it's just a phone call in case I need anything from a certain district. And then I have gone up through the individual, the water user, so there are people who can call me any time and request me to assist them in case there is an issue, especially with our staff in the field, and I am able to intervene and assist."
Mid-Western Umbrella is one of the entities that is supported through WSUP Advisory under the Conrad N. Hilton Safe Water Initiative. This initiative focuses on systems strengthening and service delivery to ensure reliable and safely managed water to one million people in low-income households, health facilities and schools in Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda.
As part of its five-year strategic plan, Conrad N. Hilton commissioned a review of its investments and approaches in the target geographies. The primary aim of the review was to investigate the relevance, effectiveness and sustainability of different Service Delivery Models (SDM), including community-based safe water management, publicly owned water utilities and private-sector approaches such as Safe Water Enterprises (SWE).
In 2023, as part of the review, IRC produced on behalf of Aguaconsult Ltd and for the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation the film 'In service to everyone'. For this film, IRC's Dechan Dalrymple and Naomi Kabarungi, interviewed service providers and users, including Stella Kwebiha in August 2023. This article is an adaptation and summarised version of the full interview.