Vitens Evides International participates in a project to strength the management capacity of the regional office of the water company FIPAG in the cities of Nampula and Angoche.

The capacity building project was launched on February 12 in Nampula.

The project is financially supported by the European Union, Vitens Evides International (VEI), SNV Mozambique and the regional office of FIPAG.

Capacity development
The overall objective of the project is to improve the capacity of water supplier FIPAG in the field of sustainable water infrastructure development, operations and maintenance.

Though new drinking water infrastructure projects are being executed, the water availability in the northern part of Mozambique needs to be improved.

In Nampula for instance, the drinking water coverage is 56% and in some other cities drinking water availability does not exceed 10%. Also, water losses in the distribution network will be addressed.

Training of employees
Parallel to the execution of new drinking water infrastructure projects practice shows that well educated and professionalised employees are key to improve the drinking water coverage, maintenance of the water infrastructure and create financially sustainable water companies.

The capacity development of FIPAG in the north of Mozambique is therefore the main target of this project.



Roles and responsibilities
Capacity building plays an important role in the project; through workshops roles and responsibilities of all relevant stakeholders in the water sector will be achieved. The FIPAG organisation will be strengthened in several technical issues such as water quality and maintenance and operations of the infrastructures, e.g. boreholes and standpipes.

Pilots in Nampula and Angoche to reduce water losses will be executed, based on best practices from other FIPAG regions in Mozambique.

Furthermore FIPAG staff will be capacitated in finance, business planning and control to ensure financial sustainability. As capacity building takes several years, access to safe drinking water and good services for the inhabitants of the Northern cities will improve gradually.

Partners since 2004
Since 2004 FIPAG and the nonprofit joint venture Vitens Evides International are partners in the water sector in the whole of Mozambique.

FIPAG is the key organisation for capacity development implementation, being responsible for the drinking water supply in the North of Mozambique.

The non-governmental organisation SNV Mozambique has a major track record in capacitating the Mozambican water and sanitation sector. Other partners in this project are Politechnica (specialised in training for middle and higher management) and CFPAS (a vocational training centre for water and sanitation).

About Vitens Evides International
Vitens Evides International offers local water companies technical, operational and management support, both in the short term and longer term.

The aim is to help water companies to become financially more healthy and to operate more efficiently with a minimum of water loss and non-revenues.

The company is powered by the two largest water companies of the Netherlands, Vitens and Evides Water company.

About SNV
SNV Netherlands Development Organisation is a non-profit, international development organisation, providing capacity development services to local organisations in three sectors: agriculture, renewable energy, and water, sanitation & hygiene.

SNV aims to alleviate poverty by enabling increased income and employment opportunities and increasing access to basic services. The organisation currently works in 36 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

This news item was originally published on the website of Vitens-Evides International and SNV.

More information
Vitens Evides International
Utrecht, the Netherlands
secretariaat.vei@vitens.nl
www.vitensevidesinternational.com

SNV
The Hague, the Netherlands
+31 70 344 02 44
www.snvworld.org