Africities Summit

Benchmarking Visits……..……...………………..…………..…16 Staff Changes

THE AFRICITIES SUMMIT

Photo; KIWASCO choir making their debut performance during the opening ceremony of Africities summit

For the first time ever, Kisumu City got the opportunity to host the 9th Edition of Africities Summit, that took place from 17th to the 21st of May 2022. The theme for the summit was ‘The Role of Intermediary Cities of Africa in the implementation of Agenda 2030 of the United Nations and the African Union Agenda 2063’. Kiwasco got an opportunity to participate in the summit through offering entertainment by Kiwasco Choir. The choir presented an electrifying performance that left everybody in awe. Many of the people who were caught by surprise knew the company for water and sanitation service provision only. Bringing people together through melodies and dance? Those were the many questions which lingered through their minds. We also had two presentation by Mr. Jason Ochola, who talked about how to better integrate water and sanitation into urban policies, strategies and plans. Jason, on behalf of the Managing Director, also made a presentation on WASH data gaps and provision of water and sanitation services in the low-income areas of Kisumu.

The football team also participated in the Africities football tournament, one of the side events for the summit. The team enrolled under the category of corporates. Here they represented the company well as they emerged the first runners up in the competition.

During the summit the company also ensured that there was constant and enough water supply as the City was hosting dignitaries and delegates from all walks of life and the best we could offer is nothing but exemplary services.

Photo; football team posing for a group photo ahead of their match.

STATE-OF-THE-ART ROUND ABOUT

In May, we unveiled the long-awaited Kiwasco round-about that was a well thought out piece of art. The concept of the pot at the roundabout was symbolic to the Luo tradition, which showed how water was drown from the river using a pot. The water was normally very cool that it would quench thirst in a way none other drink can compare. The abundance of the water sprinkling is equal to sufficiency of water the company supplies to the City of Kisumu.

Photo; a section of the round-about located at Tumaini Supermarket intersection

BENCHMARKING VISITS

Performance is a crucial step towards realizing our objective as a company and benchmarking with other companies provide a way to systematically evaluate our performance, exchange best practices in the water sector and as well as gauge our stand in regards to achieving our vision. During the quarter, we hosted a number of water utilities who came for learning and peer to peer discussions. Since we rebranded, the company has been on a journey to revamp its image, improve customer service and position itself uniquely in the sector. This has attracted many water utilities within and outside the boarders of Kenya prompting them to come down to interact and acquire this best practice.

Photo/file: Practical demonstration of pump waste collection at Manyatta by Gasia Poa.

Photo/file: Mrs. Odongo making a presentation during Naruwasco benchmark. We were delighted to host a team from the Ministry of Water and Sanitation Uganda Mid-Western Umbrella who came to learn more on how the company executes its branding and Communication, Systems and Policies, Staffing and also its Corporate structure among otherr thematic areas. They had partnered with Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) on their two days benchmarking with us on.

Meru Water & Sewerage Services and Kakamega County Water and Sanitation Company also came to benchmark with us on our commercial operations and Geographical Information System (GIS) area that the company has significantly recorded improvement over the last two years. Nyeri water and sanitation company also came round in the month of April to learn more on our laboratories with more emphasis on the calibration laboratory.

Having emerged as the best Water Service Provider in Customer Service consecutively in the Water Service Regulatory Board (WASREB) Impact ratings, we were honored to host three Water Utilities in Nakuru County for a two-day benchmark. They include Nakuru, Naivasha and Nakuru-Rural Water Companies who came to understand our operations in customer service. We delight in being the trend setters in this field and are usually excited to transfer our knowledge & experience to our peers.