Since its beginning in 2008, the USAID and ICMA Commercialization of Afghanistan Water and Sanitation Activity (CAWSA) program has helped the water supply departments in four Afghanistan municipalities achieve remarkable strides in management practices, customer service, and cost recovery. Accomplishments of the program have included:
- Infrastructure improvements: Renovated buildings, repaired pipes, rehabilitated pump stations, new equipment
- Management improvements: Computerization of records, customer care centers and hotlines, preventive maintenance, management training and capacity building
- Performance improvements: Increases in cost recovery, on-time collections, service area and population coverage, continuity of water service.
These improvements have been captured in "Success Stories" that ICMA has submitted over the course of the project to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), CAWSA's funder. Here are a few examples:
Customers Become Partners to Improve Water Service: The water supply department in Mazar-e-Sharif implemented a modern customer complaint system and educated customers about its use. Customers have access to a well-publicized hotline to report leaks and other problems in the system; complaints are systematically recorded and tracked; and customers have demonstrated increased satisfaction by paying their bills on time.
Human Resources Management System: Following a successful test in Mazar-e-Sharif, an automated human resources management system was implemented in the three other CAWSA municipalities, resulting in reduced paperwork, easier record keeping, and improved access to employee information.
Ghazni Water Utility Improves Service through Employee Training: The director of the Ghazni Water Supply Department recognized that training and organizational capacity buiding is the best way to transform the department into a modern, efficient water utility.
These and other CAWSA success stories are collected in an area of the USAID website devoted to CAWSA. The following PowerPoint presentation provides a photographic "before and after" account of these improvements.