Chinyere Adam

PORTABLE WATER SUPPLY IN MY COMMINITY

Challenge

I live in a part of the word where residents are charged arbitrarily by service providers (government and  private organizations) for services rendered. We don’t get to know the basis and how much of such  services we enjoyed. All we see is bills at the end of the month and we get disconnected if not paid or  we are made to make payments in advance while deductions are made termed ‘pay as you use’.  Residents crave to know how they are billed so they can make plans in advance to match their income.

One of such services with arbitrary bills is water supply. The people in my community resisted these bills  and chased out the service providers. The wealthy ones in the community dug up bore holes to meet  their water needs while the poor ones move about in search of water. They use any available source  whether clean or not and in recent times, there has been outbreak of cholera in many homes with  children dying.

To address this, I formed an association of youths in the community. We planned on presenting a  proposal to one of the private owned organization and hope to partner with them in restoring portable  water supply in my community with a transparent billing system.

Selection

We selected a collaborative approach that will meet the needs of the residents without compromising  the profit objectives of the service provider. We adopted the co-creation approach. We hope to  collaborate with them and share ideas that will be beneficial to us all.

Application

The community representative had dialogues with the water service provider. Suggestions on billing  parameters, water needs and income level were shared by the youth representatives because they have  firsthand knowledge of the needs of the community and exchange of ideas were made. These meetings  were held between both parties until an agreement was made and water supply was restored in the  community.

Insight

This experience thought me that no man is an island. We need each other and we must consider what  the end user needs.

Approach

I would include us this method and maybe incorporate other tools next time am presented with a  challenge.

