Technical Comitee ISO 224 – Group ad hoc « Developing Countries »
Methodology for the test of the ISO standards in Africa
Regional workshop to disseminate Water Supply and Sanitation Standards of Service, adapted to LDCs
Kampala, 24-27 July 2007
Draft synthesis of the workshop
Context of ISO standards 24510, 24511 et 24512
The Technical Committee TC224 of the International Standardization Organisation (ISO) is working since 2001 on the drafting of three standards related to drinking water and waste water. These standards are guidelines to improve the management of services and to involve users in the identification of priorities.
These standards, which are supposed to be universally applicable, have been written in order to be very flexible, to suit any situation. They will also help the responsible bodies for services and their operators to improve the services in order to reach a level of quality that satisfied users and respect the sustainable development principles. Users' expectations will be clearly identified during the process.
What is at stake : to verify that standards are adapted to DC specifics
Water and sanitation services are presenting huge differences between developed countries and developing ones. It's the reason why an “ad hoc” DC working group had been created in parallel with the other working groups in charge of the writing of ISO standards 24510 / 24511 / 24512. Its main goal is to establish if the standards are applicable as they stand in DCs and to make recommendations to improve this applicability to DCs.
In order to go further in this way, a test of the standards will be implemented. The initiative came from both Morocco and France. A minimum of ten sites will be selected to test the standards and results will allow estimates of the applicability level of these standards in the African context. A pre-test of the usefulness of the standards has already been conducted on two sites in Morocco.
Objectives of the workshop
This English-speaking workshop is the second one after the French-speaking workshop of Rabat (May 2007).
Objectives were:
• To present the standards
• To present the proposed methodology for testing the standards
• To discuss this proposition
• To explain how to analyse the standards (with a working session)
• To confirm the motivation of local stakeholders
• To propose a road-map for the next deadline
Participants of the workshop
The workshop gathered about thirty participants, representing 7 countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Malawi and Zambia). Different types of stakeholders were present: mainly operators but also consumers associations, regulators and representatives of national standardisation organisations. Debates were very fruitful and participative.
Others participants were TC224 experts, other involved organisms (MDP, pS-Eau, WBI, ONEP) as well as the consultants recruited to propose a methodology for the test of the standards in Africa.
Main topics discussed during the workshop
Philosophy and content of the ISO standards 24510/1/2
Several experts directly involved in the elaboration of the standards made presentations to explain philosophy and content of the standards. These standards, which have just been drafted, are dealing with management of water and sanitation services and users expectations. Their main goal is to propose guidelines to stakeholders in order to improve water and sanitation services to consumers.
Most operators are currently implementing ISO standards 9000 in their companies and they are very interested in implementing these new standards. But standards 24510/1/2 are not certification standards, as ISO standards 9000 series. The implementation of these standards is conducted on a voluntary basis.
The differences between the three ISO standards are:
• The 24510 standard « users' expectations » especially concerns users and their expectations and the improvement of the provided services. The approach is particularly original because, here, users are key actors.
• The two other standards 24511 (sanitation) and 24512 (drinking water) are aimed more at operators and responsible bodies. The goal is to improve the management and then to improve the service provided to users.
The standards also define a common vocabulary which is essential to a good understanding between all the stakeholders.
In concrete terms, what will be the test of the standards?
Objectives of the test of the standards are:
• To verify the relevance of these standards in DCs and particularly in Africa. To know if they are considered useful by the stakeholders, and if they contribute to improving water and sanitation services.
• To make a global synthesis of the test process in Africa in order to propose modifications which could improve the applicability of the standards regarding to the specific context of African countries. These recommendations will be transferred to ISO during the survey before the standards review in 2010;
• To write an ISO guidebook for ISO standards 24510/11/12 specifically adapted to African realities by using the results of the test of the standards and to generalise and spread this experience to the whole continent as well as to DCs in other continents.
Methodology for the test of the standards
The methodology proposed during the workshop has been accepted by the participants, and especially the following main points:
• On each site, at least 2 standards will be tested (24510 + 24511 or 24510 + 24512 depending on the service tested) and if possible, all three standards.
• It is important to involve all the stakeholders, and especially users for the ISO 24510 standard, but the strong involvement of the operators is essential because they will have to design and implement the action plans within their companies. Motivation of operators and their capacity to mobilize means for the test phase are key elements for success.
• At the end of stage 2, a first evaluation will be done to check if the implementation phase can begin or if the test will end (in case no consensus or no realistic action plans have been identified). Depending upon the material available at that time, one could envisage drafting an initial version of the ISO Application Guidebook for the standards and composing an initial group of proposals for changes in the standards.
• During stage 3, each stakeholder will contribute to the implementation of the action plans. Financing of these action plans is different from the financing of the test.
Improvement of service is a long process that never really ends.
Working session
The topic of the discussion in the working group was: “the time to establish new service provisions”. The process to conduct analysis of the standards follows several steps:
• reading the standard extract to clarify vocabulary and to share the understanding of what it means,
• defining performance indicators (PIs) linked to the standard extract studied,
• assessing the current situation in each country, related to the PIs and proposing modifications if needed,
• designing action plans in order to reach the objectives defined by PIs,
• estimating a cost for the implementation of these action plans.
After this working session, participants realized that ISO implementation is quite a complex process: it needs to mobilize all involved stakeholders, it needs time and an analytic approach.
Site selection
During the previous months, the ISO Pilot Committee for testing the standards in Africa had defined a method to identify and pre-select sites which are representative of the different existing situations in Africa.
The proposition of pre-selected sites was discussed with all the participants and led to a new list of pre-selected sites. Each of the 6 countries attending the workshop is now proposing 2 or 3 sites to implement the test of the standards, but other sites still could be proposed in the next weeks, after discussion at local level.
The next step is now to begin the implementation of the test of the standards in the selected sites, so the three decisive criteria are now:
• the local stakeholders motivation ,
• the test of the standards feasibility with regard to the local context,
• the availability of appropriate financing to implement the test.
The list of the pre-selected sites is available in annex.
Local road-maps (things to do before the STC of Cotonou in November 07)
Upon returning home, the participants commit to undertake the following actions.
Informing:
• To report on the workshop within their home structure,
• To contact the national standards committee, if one exists, and to report on the workshop,
• To identify, in each pre-selected site, all stakeholders (operators, responsible body, relevant authorities, regulators, consumers, bureau of standards) and to organise an information meeting gathering representatives from all these stakeholders.
Acting:
• To select final sites for the test,
• To form an ISO TC 224 mirror Committee at the national level,
• To form a National Pilot Committee (NPC) driven by the operator (this step will be optional, according to each specific context),
• To form Local Pilot Committees in each selected site,
• To prepare a workshop for undertaking Stage 2 of the process for each test site.
Expected results for the next meeting (AfWA STC – Cotonou, Nov 2007):
Feed-back is required from each selected site for the next STC of AfWA that will be held at Cotonou, November 2007. It would be even better if a representative of each test site could attend AfWA STC – Cotonou meeting:
• to present the activities underway at each site (and especially the creation of pilot committees),
• to contribute to the estimation of necessary resources for stage 2 (total budget estimate plus resources available at the local level).
A site is a geographical area covered by an operator: it is often a city or an agglomeration of small rural towns.
Documents à Télécharger
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ISO Kampala Introduction CJ |  |
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2 Atelier WBI Kampala TL | |
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3 DCs implication Mounir | |
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4 Kampala final 24510 Robin | |
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5 ONEP Kampala 24511 Mahi | |
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6 ISO Drinking water 24512 | |
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7 Urbaconsulting ISO Kampala | |
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8 ISO Rabat Conclusions Denis | |
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9 Working groups participants tasks | |
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10 AfWA presentation Usher | |
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11 KplaISO Workshop MDP | |
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12 ISO NWSC | |
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13 Indonesian Experiences ISO Certification | |
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14 Consumer voice presentation RRop | |
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15 Urbaconsulting ISO Kampala site Selection | |
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16 Urbaconsulting ISO Kampala Road Map | |
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17 Partners Support to Local Committees Mounir | |
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Kampala Convenor Note |  |
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N130 Resolutions Daejon | |
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N187 ResolutionsRabat | |
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N255 Resolution Berlin | |
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ISO-TC-224 Methodology v12 EN Kampala |  |
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Kampala Workshop Program | |
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Synthèse Atelier ISO Kampala v1 | |
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