Seminar Overview On July 29-31, 2008, a three day seminar, “Consumer Feedback Partnership Pilot in the Water and Sanitation Sector” was held to introduce the concept of consumer feedback mechanism as a tool for building social accountability in Kenya’s water reforms. The workshop brought together stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector to begin the process of institutionalising a consumer feedback mechanism in the form of water action groups (WAGs) as proposed by Kenya’s Water Services Regulatory Board (WASREB). The Water Action Groups will work in partnership with WASREB and service providers to monitor and provide constructive feedback on service delivery issues in the water sector. The proposal to institute WAGs came in response to findings of the Citizens' Report Card on Urban Water, Sanitation and Solid Waste Services in Kenya, 2007. The workshop was organised around participatory learning sessions that drew from international experience to examine and discuss tools for strengthening social accountability. Participants also discussed the role of communication in building partnerships for strengthening social accountability, the foundations of learning alliances, and the critical need to document experiences in this learning process. It was attended by 65 participants including senior officials from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, WASREB, representatives of utilities, residents associations and civil society organisations from the four cities taking part in the pilot of the consumer feedback mechanism. The seminar was jointly hosted by Kenya Water Services Regulatory Board (WASREB), the World Bank Institute (WBI) and the Water and Sanitation Programme for Africa, (WSP-Africa). Special thanks for the generous support from the Norwegian Government for the trust fund managed by WBI. The objectives of the seminar were to: § Begin to design a year-long partnership learning process to implement the proposed consumer feedback mechanism in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Kakamega. § Develop a foundation for a communication program to be used by WASREB. § To orient the water sector stakeholders on the concept and tools of social accountability and how they have been initiated in different countries and within the water and sanitation sector. Workshop Agenda Presentations of the Workshop Photo Gallery Video of the Workshop (10 min, RealPlayer) |
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