The objective of this partnership is to protect LWSC wellfields at Shaft 5 and Mass Media, in an environmentally, socially, and financially sustainable manner securing groundwater supply for Lusaka’s residents and businesses. Between March and December 2016, the International Water Stewardship Programme (IWaSP) in Zambia developed the Wellfield Protection Project (WPP) under the Lusaka Water Security Initiative (LuWSI). During stakeholder consultations on shared water risks on 9 December 2015, the project was identified as a quick-win. Two of Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company’s most important wellfields, accounting for 27% of groundwater supply (which is 60% of the total water supply to the city), were threatened by encroachment from human settlements. Resulting threats such as groundwater pollution and depletion from pit latrines poorly managed waste, and unregulated water abstraction from private boreholes would negatively impact the wellbeing of about 78,000 people and the productivity of one-third of water-dependent industries. A multi-layered strategy was therefore developed.

Project Results

First, the wellfield sites were developed into community recreation parks; secondly, groundwater protection zones were legally declared to enable effective monitoring and regulation of all threats to groundwater; and thirdly, capacity for multi-stakeholder collaboration (including empowerment of community structures) was enhanced to ensure sustainable outcomes.

The team put together the project Logframe and a project development work plan. The Task Team continued developing the project strategy and seeking stakeholder input and approval up to December 2016 when the strategy implementation plan up to 2019 was finalized. During meetings between April and October 2016, public sector partners resolved to be bound by the LuWSI MOU rendering the need for a project MOU or Letter of Intent unnecessary. All partners instead agreed to minute their commitments and sign a joint Strategy and Workplan. Not all partners could be involved from the beginning; the team resolved to adopt an emergent approach and to develop a strategy that was sufficiently high-level, broad, and flexible to allow meaningful adaptation and change as the partnership grows.

The team further resolved to adopt a Human Rights-Based approach to focus on the rights and duties of all stakeholders, enhance social inclusion, and better enable the empowerment of communities to build a more sustainable partnership based on equitable power-sharing.

The foregoing approach helped partners develop a common understanding of the objectives, strategies, and main actions, which included the development of a community engagement strategy, capacity building, planning and sustainability, and exit/transition planning. It also helped partners agree on shared principles and partnership behaviors get to know each other better, develop friendships, build a culture of shared responsibility, and progressively define best ways of steering the project

The key lesson from this experience is that the demands of project concept development and cooperation management (partnership building) require a lot of time and patience, but also the willingness to adapt procedures to the unique circumstances of the partnership.