Customer Care (CC) and Community Support to Service Delivery (CSSD)

Client: WHH/GIZ

Duration: 2019-2022

Location: Harare and Bulawayo

The Institute of Water and Sanitation Development was engaged to train and support the set-up of necessary platforms for Customer Care (CC) and Community Support to Service Delivery (CSSD) for target districts. First in Glenview District (2020-2022) and later under the COVID-19 Response fund for Glennorah, Budiriro, Kuwadzana, Mzilikazi and Mpopoma districts (2021-2022). Activities that were implemented during the delivery of the services include the following:

• Conducting a Baseline survey on Customer Care and Community Support on Service Delivery in Glenview, Glennorah, Budiriro, Kuwadzana, Mzilikazi and Mpopoma to determine WASH service delivery levels.
• Training of Front line staff from the 6 districts on Customer Care and Community Support on Service Delivery. The Front line staff appreciated the trainings as they were an eye opener for them to understand that their interaction with residents can positively or negatively affect service delivery. Nevertheless, common gaps were noted as follows:

o Communities are not aware of how the LA operates which results in less commitment
o Lack of toll free line for Harare city
o Client Charter is unknown by front line staff
o Urban Agriculture challenge
o Departments are working in silos
o Lack of materials to use during attendance to faults

• In 2021 the Gleinview district frontline staff received a refresher training on Customer Care. The participants reported that the past trainings have been beneficial as they have noticed that their relationship with residents/clients has greatly improved. The need for management support was highly rated to improve service delivery

• IWSD analyzed and summarized the Harare City Client charter to enable internalization of the document by the Glenview district office. This was done in collaboration with all stakeholders and input from heads of departments was sought and the final document was presented in December 2021. In January 2022, the district office launched the internalized client charter to its community.

• In 2020 IWSD trained 20 CSSD champions for Glenview District. These champions were drawn from the community and were tasked to be the Watchdogs for service delivery in Glenview. During the training the champions were introduced to a community participatory tool for monitoring service delivery (Community Score Card). The tool was developed by IWSD with input from key stakeholders. A year later (November, 2021) IWSD conducted a refresher workshop on the Community Score Card Exercise with Glenview Citizen Support to Service Delivery Champions and front line workers from the City of Harare, Glenview District. The community score card exercise serves to provide a platform for community to evaluate the service delivery being provided by the local authority. The evaluation was participatory and was based on agreed indicators set by both parties. The process recognized that water supply, sewage, and public toilets services had greatly improved since September 2020. However, the refuse collection services, revenue collection services and community engagement had also worsened over the past 12 months.