Latest PAWS Workshop Focuses on Commitment and Communication

The Performance Achievement Workshop Series (PAWS) provides significant and sustained assistance to water utilities that serve over 20 million people throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Held every three months, these invitation-only workshops provide expert guidance for senior managers who face unique challenges not experienced by their counterparts in Europe and North America.

The latest PAWS Workshop was held 6-7 June in Victoria FAll, Zimbabwe. As always, Day One kicked off with progress review reports, which partner utilities are required to produce between PAWS events. This was followed by a Communities of Practice (CoP) session in which participants formed breakout groups to discuss relevant focus areas for CoP. 

The Lusaka Water Supply and Sanitation Co. (LWSC) utility then gave a presentation on asset management and fielded questions from interested colleagues.

Two presentations on the state of the ACORN (Access to Capital, Oversight and Reporting Nexus) initiative, including by the Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) from Malawi followed, and there were take-home notes for all the utilities participating in PAWS.

Finally, a comprehensive program on improving communication wrapped up the event. Participants discussed barriers to effective communication, strategies to improve stakeholder engagement, and frameworks for creating better communication.

We spoke with three of the recent PAWS participants to get their impressions of the event.

Mercy Ncube

Mercy Ncube, Deputy Director of Engineering & Technical Services for Mutare Municipality, has been in the water sector since 2003, and is a member of the ROCKBlue Women’s Urban Leadership in Utility WASH (WULUW) program. She is one of the few females in a sector dominated by men, and spends considerable time mentoring young women, helping them toward a future career in WASH. . 

“Impacting people directly is my biggest motivator. It’s extremely rewarding as it makes people smile—especially children.”

The highlight of the event for Ms. Ncube were the lessons LWSC shared on asset management. Mutare Municipality has been taking small steps towards managing their assets more effectively, but with the insights shared by having learnt from LWSC, she and her team are increasingly motivated and determined to share significant achievements at the next PAWS event. 

Isau Nyengera 

Mr. Nyengera has been with the city of Masvingo for 18 years; 10 as an internal auditor and 8 as credit controller in the finance department. He has actively participated in PAWS events since 2021.

“Provision of water and sanitation is a critical component in human life… I am happy to be part of this family that provides water and sanitation to communities by analyzing water demand, costs related thereto, and possible solutions.” 

He notes that these workshops make reporting easier, helping utilities benchmark their performance against that of other organizations locally and across the continent. He feels this year’s PAWS was very helpful and “different from past ones in that the topics were very critical for broadening how participants conduct their business.” The sessions on non-revenue water and ROCKBlue’s ACORN initiative specifically stood out as they concern financial issues that are especially impactful for utilities.

Anita Milanzi 

Anita Milanzi, Senior Commercial Officer, has been with LWSC for 18 years. Her duties focus on revenue generation and collections. Like many of her colleagues, Ms. Milanzi has a passion for service, explaining, “I find it rewarding when a household has access to clean water and safe sanitation services.” 

Ms. Milanzi has attended several PAWS events virtually, but this is her first in-person workshop. She found the sessions very helpful, and commented that the session on Professional Communication opened up avenues and skills for enhancing her communication with customers—a critical element of her job. “As professionals, we think we know the best way to speak to our customers,” she commented, “but in reality, we only know the basics of communication.”

The presentation on WULUW specifically stood out for her. As a female in a male-dominated field, she enjoyed seeing and learning from other females that are achieving great results in their field and striving to support and uplift fellow women.

More on PAWS and How You Can Make an Impact

PAWS events provide an environment of continuous learning and sharing. Members stay connected between workshops with monthly reporting calls in which they share wins and discuss challenges. We have convened 18 quarterly PAWS workshops since 2019 valued at $700K.

What’s next? We will hold a virtual PAWS workshop in September, as well as the final, in-person workshop in Cape Town, South Africa, November 14th-15h. If you or your organization is interested in driving real impact with urban utilities, contact slotr@rockblue.org.