Zambia Water Supply and Sanitation Services in Growth Centers Program

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The Program will support the government’s objective under the ZIP to ensure national water security and the sustainable management and utilization of Zambia’s water resources for socio-economic development by 2030, by (i) addressing the challenge of sector governance with incentives provided at national government and CUs level for having transparent and disclosed performance criteria regarding budget support, compliance with Board appointment and management best practices (ii) and improving operational efficiency, and financial performance of selected CUs, with the purpose of increasing their creditworthiness and reducing their dependency on public subsidies for maintenance, thus freeing up valuable resources to be directed to expand services to growth centers and rural areas. The IPF component will finance activities related to technical assistance (TA), capacity building and supporting program operational coordination, mainly at Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation, the National Water supply and Sanitation Council (NWASCO the regulator), the Commercial Utilities (CUs), and other partners and institutions that will be participating in the program. The IPF will recruit an Independent Verification Agent and will support closing the gaps and deficiencies uncovered by the technical, financial, and environmental and social (E&S) assessments. This component will also support NWASCO to review their Monitoring & Performance Reporting Criteria set for CUs to establish if it is still fit for purpose and whether revisions should be made. If not yet financed by another partner, a cost of services study will be funded. A few equipment and vehicles will be procured to strengthen the MWDS and NWASCO supervisory and coordination roles, as well as a solar power backup system for NWASCO office.