See NWSC’s five-year strategic direction (2016-21)

The National Water Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) Five Year Strategic Direction (2016–2021) comes at a time when the Corporation is at cross roads with a good historical performance record, but increasing demand for services across the urban divide in Uganda.

As Albert Einstein said, “the challenges we face today cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when they were created. We therefore have to put on a new mind if we are to succeed in our search for solutions.” This statement summarises the predicament of increasing expectations and demands that the Corporation is currently faced with The Five Year Strategic Direction is therefore aimed at gearing the Corporation for transformational changes in its operational and geographical mandate.

In formulating the Strategic Direction, due cognisance was given to the history of the Corporation that has defined its current status, the existing NWSC Corporate Plan (2012–2015) aspirations and the various stakeholder expectations, key among which are the Government Policy expectations. In summary, the Five Year Strategic Direction is premised on the four (4) perspectives of the Balance Score Card, namely: Business Process and Growth, Customer Perspective, Financial Perspective, and Learning and People Perspective. Key among the strategic focus areas will be increased coverage and supply reliability, improved asset management aimed at tackling the current water losses, improved customer interface and delight coupled with enhanced collaboration with stakeholders, increased revenue growth and mobilization of resources for investment, improved staff capacity development and welfare, and enhanced research and innovation.

It is envisaged that the Five Year Strategic Direction will be operationalised and streamlined through the Corporation’s annual budget and respective Division Annual Plans and One Minute Management Goals for the staff within the Divisions. The activities of the Strategy will further be cascaded to the various areas of operation in a bid to ensure collective responsibility and effectiveness in the implementation of the strategies. This will be undertaken through tactical Performance Improvement Programmes (PIP), including the STEP–UP–90 Programme that was launched recently. As is always the case, growth and development comes at a cost.