Functioning institutions are key to delivering sustainable and reliable water and sanitation services. Utilities and other relevant public stakeholders need to establish clear and transparent decision making structures. Solid financial management and sufficient competent staff are also necessary. MACS place a specific emphasis on functioning institutions in all projects we work on.
On rural projects MACS works with a specifically adapted model. The SISARTM (Sistema Integrado de Saneamento Rural) model, originally developed in Brazil, provides a framework for sustainable water supply by establishing effective ownership. SISARTM involves user groups in the management of community-based water and sanitation organizations.
Business planning means defining commercial goals and developing realistic investment plans. These must be compatible with an organisation’s financial models and commercial strategy, if the goals set are to be met. Holistic business plans become “living documents”, revised every year in the planning and budget cycle.
On paper, business planning is a mandatory part of most water projects. However, the persistence required to implement business plans is often lacking. Changing business environments mean that the plans become increasingly less relevant.
Through a combination of methodological support and training, MACS show utilities how to incorporate holistic business planning into their yearly planning and budget cycle. This way, business plans come to life. They are inextricably linked to the utility MIS, allowing self-monitoring of internal and external developments, and ultimately leading to improved governance and decision-making.
MACS’ NRW programmes are all based on the IWA’s Water Balance, and designed to reduce waste and improve the technical and financial efficiency of water supply utilities. The challenge is to tackle the reduction of non-revenue water losses while adapting environmentally sound and energy efficient technologies and measures. MACS help utilities to define individual cost effective strategies for reducing and managing water loss.
MACS have designed a Change Management Index (CMI) to assist utilities in achieving organisational change. Such change is often necessary in order to implement the process changes required to reduce NRW losses. Our CMI informs policymakers and service providers on performance improvements, supports institutional reform, enhances accountability to consumers, and ultimately improves services and their sustainability. This summary outlines the rationale for the index and explains its methodology.
