“The skills to regulate must be acquired through practice and harnessing knowledge of regulatory practices would aid in strengthening the capacity of regulators and other implementing agencies across Africa and globally to effectively discharge their mandate and improve service delivery”. These were the resounding words in the opening speech by ESAWAS Chairperson, Mr Baltazar Nganikiye during the launch of the ESAWAS Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) Regulation Training Centre. The inaugural training programme titled “Regulation for WSS Services” took place from 19th to 22nd March 2024 and was attended by 50 participants from 19 African countries and one from Jordan.
In her introductory rema
rks, the ESAWAS Executive Secretary, Ms. Yvonne Magawa pointed out the absence of specific training programme for WSS Regulation with an Africa context and that the cost of available trainings is often beyond the reach of entities with regulatory mandate. Establishing a dedicated WSS Regulation Training Centre is in line with ESAWAS’ core objective of enhancing the capacity of regulators for effective regulation of WSS services in Africa and globally. She outlined that the training centre will provide both fundamental and in-depth knowledge in WSS Regulation based on practical know-how with focus on good regulatory practices to inform decisions about what, whom, and how to regulate within the local context, but also will serve as a resource centre for a global audience.
The official opening of the WSS Regulation Training Centre was graced by the Principal Secretary for Water and Sanitation, Mr Julius Korir represented by Eng. Samuel Alima, the Water Secretary at the State Department of Water and Sanitation in Kenya. In his remarks, he reiterated the crucial role of regulators in ensuring WSS sector development and realisation of countries’ commitment of achieving universal access to safely managed water supply and sanitation services by 2030. He pointed out that the regulatory environment is ever changing and therefore regulators have to keep up with this fast-evolving environment. Mr Korir congratulated ESAWAS for taking the lead and establish the Training Centre with a focus on disseminating knowledge and skills on WSS regulation and choosing Kenya for this event.
Speaking earlier, Dr. Julius Itunga the Ag. CEO for WASREB highlighted key achievements of the regulator over the years that has seen progress in WSS service delivery. Kenya is an example where long-term institutional reform process, including the devolution of WSS services to counties, have led to positive results in scaling up access. These reforms started with the separation of functions, creation of regulatory bodies, then devolution of services, and are now culminating with the creation of a robust investment framework bringing together both national and sub-national entities, as a key vehicle to scaling up access.
“For us from West Africa, specifically Nigeria, it has been a great opportunity to participate in this training. This training can become a model for capacity building in WSS Regulation” Funke Adepoju, Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission, Nigeria.
The inaugural training was particularly designed to provide an all-rounded top-level overview of regulation and WSS service provision to lay the foundation for more in-depth, specific, and technical knowledge in various aspects of WSS regulation. The delivered courses included:
- Basics of Water Supply and Sanitation Services
Eng delivered the course. Mutaekulwa Mutegeki, the former Director of Water and Sanitation at the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) in Tanzania. It provided understanding of WSS service provision highlighting characteristics of networked WSS infrastructure and off-grid WSS solutions in both urban and rural settings. It also discussed different business and technical models of service delivery and the approaches for pro-poor service provision and social inclusion.
- Basics of Regulation
The course aimed at providing fundamental knowledge on the purpose and design of regulation and regulatory entities, particularly regarding water supply and sanitation services provision. It comprised three sub-modules:
- Introduction to regulation
The course looked at the foundations of regulation theory, the historical context, and the creation of regulatory agencies. It touched on objectives, types of regulation, and different models of WSS regulation in Africa. It was delivered by Ms. Rita Amaral, the Executive Director of the Lisbon International Centre for Water (LIS-Water).
- Legal and institutional aspects of regulation
Delivered by Eng. Robert Gakubia, the former Chief Executive Officer for the Water Services Regulatory Board (WASREB) of Kenya; the course discussed the enabling environment for regulation, the role of the regulator as a legal entity, and relationship with other types of regulators as well as competencies, powers, and functions of regulators.
- Regulatory governance and good regulatory practices
The course was delivered by Ms. Chola Mbilima, the Senior Inspector of Commercial and Financial Management at the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO) of Zambia. It focused on the dimensions of regulatory governance and the quality of regulation, outlining the principles and good practices of regulatory governance and the development, interpretation, and implementation of guidelines, regulations, rules, and standards.
“There is a need to differentiate between having a regulator and regulating. This training has equipped us with the practical skills to regulate” Phideria Moyo, Water Services Association of Malawi.
- Technical regulation
Under this course, Eng. Mutegeki discussed the regulation of WSS piped and off-grid services with respect to quality-of-service standards. He also provided an overview of performance evaluation, benchmarking methodologies, and regulatory information management.
- Economic regulation
Focusing on building the sustainability of service provision through sufficient revenues to recover costs, Ms Chola Mbilima discussed the classification of economic regulation models, the importance and objectives of calculating the Regulatory Asset Base (RAB), the general principles of a tariff system: tariff level and structure, and financing models for WSS service provision.
- Contractual regulation
Based on local and global experience, Ms Rita Amaral introduced the structuring and legal modeling of WSS service provision contracts, outlining different types of contracts, the private sector's participation, and the regulator's role in contract management.
“With the technical, contractual and economic regulation knowledge, I am now a confident regulator” Khamis Rashid Hamad, Zanzibar Utilities Regulatory Authority.
- Compliance monitoring, reporting and enforcement
Delivered by Mr Richard Cheruiyot and Mr George Wakaba from WASREB, the course combined a practical field exercise looking at regulatory mechanisms for monitoring and reporting WSS provision including inspections planning and execution, survey and classification of Regulatory Asset Base and requirements for service provider reporting.
The training was enriched by a high level of engagement where participants were encouraged to share the practical experience from their respective countries on different regulatory aspects discussed. It was emphasized that the principles of regulation are the same and information sharing and knowledge disseminated should be prioritized to lay the foundation of effective regulation however, the practice of regulation should be specific to local context to address specific needs and achieve policy objectives of a particular country.
The WSS Regulation Training Centre was lauded by the participants, commending its importance in shaping the regulation of WSS service delivery and the overall WSS sector performance. Requests were made for ESAWAS to consider more frequent and in-country trainings to build the capacity of WSS regulators across Africa and beyond.
“We are now more exposed through this training and all that remains is setting up our regulator” Hon. Peter Mahal Dhieu Akat, Undersecretary, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation-South Sudan
