National Water and Sewerage Corporation has always had an unwavering commitment and integrity in terms of quality service provision with a vision to be the Leading Customer Service Oriented Utility in the world. The utility has been lauded by masses for its enormous achievements and successes, and as a result, is a benchmark focal point for many other related utilities continent-wide and has thus welcomed many benchmarking visits from countries from all over Africa.
Ethiopia happens to be the latest guest on the list as its Urban and Rural Water Utilities’ representatives thus; Ethiopian Water Works Construction Enterprise (EWWCE) and the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy (MoWIE) respectively, commenced a series of lectures on practical considerations for quality water service delivery.
Note that despite the tireless efforts put in by both utilities, access to safe water in Ethiopia remains a challenge. Furthermore, the quality of water supplied by the utilities is not always safe for consumption and both utilities acknowledge that there is still a lot of work to be done to improve the water supply and sanitation services in the country. Which would explain their visit.
Dr. Rose Kaggwa, the Senior Director at the helm of the Directorate of Business and Scientific Services officiated the opening of the lecture sessions and shared a brief about the Genesis of the NWSC and its current progress with regards to business growth and expansion. She also encouraged the lot to dream big and have practical and feasible plans.
“Do you have a dream? Work towards achieving it and get it done right the first time”, she fortified.
Dr. Kaggwa also hinted on “team work” and urged the group to teach one another during the visit and to have take-home points both as an individual, and as a leader at the end of the day.
She shared about the various modes of operation to ensure business growth; ‘Just as you change gears in a car to enable you move forward, you must learn how to shift gears to push your utility forward’ She further explained. She then concluded by encouraging the teams to join African Water and Sanitation Association(AFWASA), and the International Water Association(IWA) so as to keep learning and growing.
The NWSC Director-Commercial and Customer Services, Mr. George Okol shared a lecture dissecting various attributes of quality customer service explaining the key elements and practical approaches entailed.
He digested the service provision framework into three dimensions explaining that it is very imperative that utilities innovate around technology with regard to; the customer, organization, and staff dimensions.
Also in attendance were: NWSC’s Director Regional Operations-Eng. Edmond Okaronon, and Manager External Services-Zainab Mpakiraba.
