What is OBA in Water?

Output-Based Aid (OBA) is a performance-based payment to service providers that subsidizes the cost of providing basic services to users. The aim of OBA in the case of Rukingiri is to improve the access to safe water, since users' tariffs do not cover the full cost of providing you water. However this subsidy is only paid to the provider after it delivers the agreed outputs: yard tap connections and water service delivered for a specified time. OBA has been desiggned as an incentive mechanisms to improve water provider's performance and effectiveness.

In Rukungiri, if the water provider, whose name is Water Supply Services Limited, does not deliver specific outputs, it won’t get paid. This new type of contract is known as OBA

What changes is OBA trying to implement in Rukungiri?
Explicit subsidies: Subsidy support to users is clearly defined: who gets the support for exactly what service.
Payment on output delivery: The service provider is held accountable to deliver on concrete outputs.
Monitoring based on results: Specific results should be the indicators for monitoring.
Sustainability: Subsidies should be set to help demand for water meet supply.
But OBA is just a part of the puzzle. The private operator has a 5-year contract which requires certain performance standards, and these are monitored by the Local Authority and the Ministry of Water and Emvironment -- and of course, the user!

Replicating previous experience in Wobulenzi. Now in Busia and Rukungiri

As you might know, the Ugandan government is committed to improving access and quality of water and sanitation service delivery. In this regard, the ongoing and the new stage of the program financed by the World Bank Institute are a response to a request for country–based capacity development initiatives to promote transparency and accountability within the water sector. The replication of the program in Busia and in Rukungiri is a second stage of the capacity building program ”Improving Governance in the Water Sector through Social Accountability, Communication and Transparency, which has been ongoing in the town of Wobulenzi since May 2008. This second in Busia and Rukungiri that will take place from 2009 to 2010.

The main goal of this second stage is continuing promoting better governance in the water sector in Uganda by fostering access to information, citizen participation, transparency, and efficient communication activities while monitoring the implementation of water programs in other two towns: Busia and Rukungiri. In the case of Rukungiri, the Ministry is piloting a new type of contract with the private operator, where the operator only gets paid after delivering certain defined results. Therefore, this program not only will monitor water provision, but also will compare performance of the water service provision under different sets of incentives . This will be done through the application of baseline surveys or citizen report card, a baseline water quality test, a follow-up quality test one year later, and a follow-up survey one year later.

During the implementation, we shall be sharing information with you on the progress, challenges and lessons leant. Feel free to also visit our blog from this program and post your comments, or send us questions about the program to our email (netwasuganda@gmail.com)

Outputs of the Programme
* Using the citizen report card, will develop a baseline (June 2009) in the two peri-urban growth centers on water service provision to establish the benchmarks upon which improvements in access, quality, and governance, redress grievances, attention to customers, willingness to pay and access to information, etc. will be evaluated by the follow-up survey one year later (June 2010).
* Disseminate information about the new OBA approach introduced into the water sector. This will help increase the incentives for providers to perform better and more efficiently. The OBA approach is now being used in Wobulenzi and in Rukungiri, but not in Busia.
* Help to create an environment of information sharing and transparency on the water sector for policymakers and providers to be able to inform their decisions to improve the water service delivery and performance.
* Increase awareness among citizens about their rights and the provision of water whether using an OBA scheme or non-OBA scheme.

Community Score Cards to Evaluate Water Service in Wobulenzi

NETWAS mobilized communities who would attend the community meetings. In the meeting, community members were asked to select their representatives in the community meetings. The criteria to select members were; someone who could articulate issues, read and write. In this case 6 members from the following user groups identified during the survey were selected; business owners (hotels, clinics, schools) Children- 9–15; women, youths, men, local leaders and water vendors. All service Providers attended the service Providers meetings and the interface meetings were attended by representatives from the community and the Service providers. Invitation letters were sent in time and followed up with telephone calls. The venues were identified in time and Lunch and/or snack providers were also identified. Facilitators worked in the evenings to prepare charts for score cards including one that would be used as an example during the plenary, cards for the different focus groups as well as the final community score card. Charts were also prepared for the service providers’ meetings and the interface meetings. All Charts were prepared in the Luganda language. The charts provided space for 3-4 issues identified by the particular group, as well as the programme objective issues of social accountability, transparency and dialogue.

Six community meetings were held for community members from Upper East/West and Kikasa in Bukalasa, Kigulu, Kitante, Gwafu and Sikanusu in Wobulenzi. An average of 50 participants attended these meetings. The main purpose of the community meetings was to allow users of a water service to share their experiences, identify priority areas for improvement as well as the roles and contributions they can make towards improving governance, management and delivery of water services. NETWAS had already mobilized communities. Focus group discussions were held in each meeting for women, men, children, local leaders, youth and business community.

Four service provider’s self- assessment meeting took place. One was carried out for Bukalasa College (one of the two private provdiers evaluated in this program), and three for Wobulenzi Town Council service provider (Trandit Ltd) respectively. Members included, the Water Board Members, NGOs, Trandit Company (the operator that providers water to the core urban area of Wobulenzi), Councilors and Kiosk owners. Only one meeting was held for Bukalasa because the issues for Kikasa had already been addressed in the first meeting. The objective of this meeting was to give service providers the opportunity to discuss and share their views on the quality of services and factors that they think or know affect its effectiveness. They also proposed activities they think can help improve service delivery, management and governance. The main output of this meeting was a Service Providers Self Assessment Card.

Dissemination of results of the Community Score Card. The results of the CSC were typed and shared with the service Providers. Each community remained with a copy of the cards for reference during implementation. Platforms like the Budget conference in Wobulenzi were used to inform members of not only NETWAS contribution but also to remind members of their plans. Individual meetings were also held with the Principal for Bukalasa to share the outcomes of the meetings. Follow up meetings with the community members and those implementing the plans were made by NETWAS staff.

Preparation for the Inter-face Meeting. All the previous activities described above served as preparation for the inter-face meetings, and it is a process of gaining trust from each other and building a fruitful relationship. Indeed what it built for being able of having an inter-face meeting is crucial for having a lasting relationship. This is part of the action learning process that is a step by step path that includes reflection, learning, fine-tuning, and implementation of the joint action plan.

The Inter-face-Meeting and Agreements between Users and Providers. Five (5) Interface meetings were held for Sikanusu, Upper East and West, Kikasa, Gwafu and Kitante plus Kigulu. The last one was combined as the service provider was one and the issues were almost similar. The interface meeting brought together all stakeholders after their independent meetings, to present, negotiate, agree on a joint position, and develop a joint plan of action. The main output of this meeting and the whole process was a Joint Action Plan. The joint action plans were funded by the Service Provides and the community members using their resources. The meetings were very fruitful, as they enabled the two parties to understand why certain things were being done, especially on the part of the service provider. It was evident that the process had triggered channels of dialogue between the two parties. Some of the agreed actions in the joint action plan were acted on immediately. For example, on the Kikasa community, members requesting for telephone contacts of key personnel of the service provider at Bukalasa, the contacts were provided there and then. After making the joint action plans between the providers and water users, the NETWAS representative pledged to contribute 500,000 towards the plan of each of the 6 communities and community members agreed on how to spend this money.

Keeping Stakeholders Informed

One crucial part of this program is to engage all stakeholders during the process of implementing the program to promote ownership and commitment. That is mind, NETWAS decided to open a Blog and keep it updated, so that everyone could be informed step by step over the process about our achievements and also about our mistakes, challenges and goals. Besides the communication mechanisms used to inform stakeholder, NETWAS has held Meetings with Wobulenzi stakeholders since the beginning of the program. Having this relationship with the authorities has been crucial for the since the Town Water engineers for both Bukalasa and Wobulenzi have been instrumental in mobilization of relevant stakeholders in Wobulenzi and Bukalasa.

Meetings with the New Town Clerk: NETWAS had the last November a meeting with the new Town Clerk (Mr Sebbudde Joseph) and his staff. Some of the issues discussed with the Town Clerk have included:
* Project objectives and activities, the town clerk appreciated and said he can now confidently talk about the project. Previously he could not respond to some of the queries by the councilors.
* Water quality monitoring of the system
* Since the Town council has an internet facility, members showed the staff how to access the blog from the internet
* Town clerk provided a list of other important stakeholders to update the current list together with the e-mail addresses and telephone numbers.

Meetings with Bukalasa Agricultural College service provider: Meetings in Bukalasa were held to share the reports on progress of the project with staff during the previous quarter. Two meetings were held on November 2008 and some of the issues discussed included:
* Water quality results of the survey
* sharing hard copy progress reports together with water board members ( summary for the target group)
* Involvement of board members in dissemination of results
* Time for the meetings

Meetings with Trandit , the OBA Provider in Wobulenzi: Meetings with Trandit service provider were held to brief them on the Project, share the reports on progress of the project with staff for the previous quarter. Two meetings were held on November 2008 and some of the issues discussed included:
* The contact persons who will actively participate/follow the process of the Project
* Benefits of the Programme to all staff and the company in improving services to users
* List of the staff and their contacts for easy communication (included Trandit zonal manager for Luweero and the General Manager)
* Usage of Blog
* Revival of water treatment plant

Meetings with Good Governance Working Group: A meeting in November 2008 was held with the Governance working group to update them on the progress and share project materials. The meeting discussed the scaling up of initiatives in other towns and documentation of the process. The members of this group asked NETWAS to continue sharing the hard copies as well as the soft copies as the internet facilities are not reliable.

Development of a Communication Strategy

The communication strategy responds to tasks in the scope of work to develop a comprehensive strategy that improves and facilitates communication within the NETWAS team and with other stakeholders on one hand and secondly to enhance communication between water users and providers in Wobulenzi, the area of operation on the other hand.

The Communication Strategy Report (CSR) that explains the communication strategy is intended to offer a coherent and comprehensive plan that will allow to better relationship among all the stakeholders of the program, as well as will help to disseminate the benefits of the applying social accountability tools.

The strategy will also facilitate change in the water sector, in the sense that the program is expected to promote the concept of users’ feedback and social accountability as an institutionalized mechanism for improving service quality. Thus, the communication strategy is key in bringing about change in actors’ behaviors and perceptions about social accountability. The communication strategy will also aid to achieve the goals of the program including:

a) Information sharing: communication may be used to announce objectives and goals of the program or provide stakeholders with information about the nature, timing, and significance of the program.
b) Participation: Change agents may create communication processes that actively involve even common citizens from Wobulenzi into the program to: provide them with new and creative ideas, and change their perceptions about the service delivery in the water sector. In addition, change agents may construct communication processes that allow the upper-level management from the water sector to get feedback and fresh ideas from implementers and citizens.
c) Vision and Motivation: Communication can be utilized to convey the vision, set of goals, and highlighting the important drivers for changing existing organizational or individual attitudes, beliefs or practices within the water sector in Wobulenzi, or even at national level. For example, communication in this project could provide information about perception on OBA (Output-Based Aid) provision. This new financial system is supposed to pay the provider after confirming delivery of the product or service.
d) Social Support: when efforts are put to produce a change, high-levels of anxiety can arise within the government and providers, and communication may be needed to determine people’s responses to change, alleviate potential fears to social participation, and encourage partnerships for improved service delivery and the establishment of networks support systems for the program. Evaluation/Feedback: Impacting a public service requires the structuring of communication processes that provide providers feedback about their performance during the program and provide feedback to implementers regarding strengths and weaknesses during the implementation.

Use of Communication Tools to Share Information to promote governance and improve relashionships among stakeholders within the water sector

The goal of the communication component of this program is to foster communication and knowledge sharing by providing and ensuring effective flow of information, updates, success stories, challenges, key messages and action plans promptly within the implementation team and among all targeted stakeholder groups with the aim to increase the overall awareness levels about the social accountability and transparency program. At the same time to collect feedback and knowledge in order to continually improve the program activities.

During the process of the program, NETWAS is sharing information with all types of stakeholders in involved decision-making, implementing process or feedback mechanisms in a two-way communication process. When some one raises his voice, sh/e must feel that sh/e is being heard, and thus must get an answer or a response, even if it is negative. Focusing on increasing understanding and relations among stakeholders through the use of communication enables participants to move forward with implementation plans, because stakeholder’s dialogue is important to avoid blaming for the past mistakes and creating a shared future

This program is basically a program devoted to promoting dialogue and building partnerships among stakeholders which is what CRC/CSC is about. NETWAS will be implementing through the Community Score Cards process, a dialogue between users and providers of water services, in Wobulenzi. It will take place with the participation of local authorities to promote partnerships and good governance within the sector. In order to generate a productive dialogue, NETWAS will be doing the following actions:
* Engaging frequently and systematically with stakeholders to determine mutually beneficial actions.
* Remembering that communication must be two-way. Communication is not the same as information. The aim of the dialogue should be to achieve mutual understanding and rational agreement or consent about the goals of the programs and its achievements. Information is crucial, but it must go beyond by incorporation channels from sharing ideas and worries.
* Inviting stakeholders to become involved in our program also exploring their concerns about our initiative.
* If there are no channels with stakeholders, create them! NETWAS will be trying to reach silent stakeholders and form partnership with stakeholders early, as has been done since the beginning of the project by working with the local government of Luwero and Wobulenzi town council.

Water Quality Test in Wobulenzi (Two different Providers)

The water quality testing is intended to offer the beneficiaries and service providers with the quality of the drinking water being provided. The results will be used as the baseline information for the supplies and advocacy for continuous water quality monitoring. Controlling the quality at sources is important as contamination at a single tap may affect a large number of people and will be more significant than a failure at a number of taps that are only used for a single household.

In line with the above criteria of monitoring, some selected tap stands, storage tanks and kiosks were sampled from both Bukalasa Agricultural College and Wobulenzi Town water supplies. Also in areas / zones that were found with no taps but used alternative sources (boreholes, springs etc), these sources were also sampled for analysis.

METHODOLOGY AND SCOPE OF WORK
A total of 10 taps-stands, 4 water tanks and the main source outlet on Bukalasa Water Supply were sampled. However, some tap-stands that had earlier been programmed for sampling were found with no flowing water, and others had been disconnected. In Wobulenzi Town Council water samples were taken from a total of 4 Kiosks, 2 Tanks and 4 tap-stands. Also 6 boreholes within the town council were sampled as they served large population of people within the town. In the absence of flowing water in some zones e.g. Sikanusu zone, people collected water from a near by unprotected spring found in Wapamba zone. Of the 4 Kiosks mentioned above, one of them (Katongole Expedito) was served by a private motorized borehole was not part of the bigger water supply.

The scope of work involved: (1) Carrying out on- site physical quality tests on all the water points that were sampled using portable electronic meters. (2) Collecting water samples in pre-sterilized glass bottles for microbiological tests. (3) Sensitizing the community on the importance of maintaining a clean environment around the water points that were sampled.

RESULTS
Regarding PH, which affects the taste and corrosivity of the water: (i) For the town council waters supply, the average PH of the supply water points was 6.41. The recommended PH range for untreated water supply is 5.0 – 9.5. (ii) For the Bukalasa supplier, the average PH of the water supply was 5.99.

With regard to Turbidity that indicates the cloudiness of the water and affects the risk of infections disease transmission: (i) For the Town Council supplier the turbidity value of water in the sump (tank) was 0.86 NTU Compared to the average turbidity value of the water points which was 2.11 NTU. The maximum Turbidity Value recommended for untreated water supplies is 30 NTU. (ii) For the Bukalasa provider, the average water points Turbidity was 1.88 NTU, compared to the turbidity of water from the main source outlet which was 1.45 NTU. Though the variation was small, slightly higher turbidity values were recorded in all the tanks

Electrical conductivity / IDS, which affect the taste and freshness of the water: (i) For the Town Council provider, the average TDS values of all the water points were 148.4mg compared to the value of 149 mg/l of water in the sump. There was no significant change. The maximum acceptable TDS value for untreated water supply is 150mg/l. (ii) For the Bukalasa provider, generally there was a slight increase in the TDS value in the water supply. The average TDS was 112.3 mg/l compared to 83mg/l in the source out let.

Regarding Faecal coliforms, which indicates recent faecal pollution, and the potential risk of contracting infectious diseases: (i) For the Town Council provider, the results for all the water points were Satisfactory. (ii) For the Bukalasa provider, unsatisfactory results were obtained in the cylindrical water tank and Sakaaza tap stand. Acceptable results were obtained in the elevated tank. The rest gave satisfactory results. The maximum acceptable concentration for untreated water supply is 50 Cfu/100 ml of sample.

And finally Coliforms that indicates the general hygienic quality of the water: (i) For the Town Council provider, Semaganda , Florence Nabowa& Mrs. Betty Nakajubi tap- stands and Sikanusi kiosk showed Unsatisfactory bacteriological results. (ii) For the Bukalasa provider, the elevated tank, cylindrical water tank and Sekaaza tap- stand showed unsatisfactory bacteriological results. The maximum acceptable T-Coli concentration in untreated water supply is 100 cfu/100 ml of the sample

CONCLUSIONS
1. People collecting water from tap stands and boreholes always assume that the water is safe and hence no boiling is required. In order to protect public health, a lot of operation and maintenance is required to maintain good water quality.
2. Where water supply is unreliable, it forces people to use alternative water sources, possibly more distant and of lower quality which may increase the risk to health.
3. Discontinuity was noted in both water supplies. Discontinuity may increase the livelihood of contamination as the risk of back – siphoning into the distribution network is increased when pipes are at lower pressure than the surrounding soils.
4. Discontinuity in the town council water supply should be addressed to save the community from using alternative sources of inferior quality as evidenced by people of Sikanusu Zone that were using water from an unprotected spring located in Wapamba Zone. The spring had Unsatisfactory Water quality results.
5. General lack of alternative power supply in case of interrupted UEB power supply was the major cause of discontinuity of supply in the Town Council. This was also the main reason why most kiosks and tap-stands were not sampled at the time. However, it was observed that a stand-by generator was in place.
6. All the tanks of Bukalasa water supply should be cleaned and their cover tops properly fixed. Contamination of these tanks by feacal matter may have been as result of bird dropping washing into the tank since there were all installed on raised platforms. The line up to Sakaaza tap- stand should also be closely examined to identify whether there are leakages.