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Lawrence Chitumba Correspondent
THERE is renewed confidence among Bindura residents in the local authorities’ service delivery system following the training of their personnel in customer care since 2017.

The training was done under the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Programmme (WASH) and was assisted by UNICEF in 14 local authorities across the country.

The WASH programme was introduced by Government with the assistance of UNICEF in response to the cholera outbreak of 2008 following the realisation that urban local authorities were facing challenges in terms of providing water, sanitation and hygienic services to their residents.

Speaking at a workshop held in Bindura attended by the 14 local authorities that are being assisted to review what they have gone through over the years with special emphasis on operations and maintenance of the equipment and infrastructure, WASH officer Mr Taurai Maja said the training had resulted in improved payment of bills.

“There is renewed confidence by urban residents in the local authorities’ service delivery system following the training of their personnel from the Town Clerk to the last man in customer care since 2017 which was conducted by WASH assisted by UNICEF to 14 local authorities throughout the country,” he said.

“The training has also resulted in improved payment of bills as well as the participation of residents in assisting local authorities to carry their mandate of service delivery through the U-report SMS web-based platform where people report burst water and sewer pipes direct to responsible authorities which resulted in the reduction in time taken for the repairs to take place.”

Speaking at the same occasion, Rusape Town Council secretary Mr Solomon Gabaza said the relationship between the local authorities and residents had greatly improved because all local authorities staff were trained in customer care.

He said the employees now respect residents because they are the biggest stakeholders.

He said before the intervention, they had aged equipment as well as a workforce that was not focused, so the training brought about team- work amongst council workers.

He said they had toured the Bindura Municipality waterworks and sewer works and were impressed by the work being done there as operators on the ground were explaining all their processes which showed that the training had an impact.