|
|
 |
 |
 |
||
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
||
June 2001 Insights Issue #37Serving the urban poor. Is strategic marketing the solution?Urban utilities and municipalities fail to supply water to as many as 70 percent of city residents. Unconnected households rely on expensive small-scale water vendors or on water from wells, springs and rivers that may be contaminated. Can strategic marketing offer financially viable and sustainable approaches to expanding water services to poor urban consumers? Urban populations are increasing at a rate of up to 6 percent a year: residents in informal unplanned settlements can often only obtain small quantities of water at premium prices or take considerable time collecting. The first table shows typical existing water sources, and the potential for improved services through strategic marketing. Utilities have problems serving informal settlements, but can strategic marketing help develop beneficial exchange relationships between utilities and the communities they serve? Research by the Water Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC), Loughborough University and the International Institute for Infrastructural, Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering (IHE) has tested and adapted marketing methodologies in Mombassa (Kenya), Kampala (Uganda) and Guntor (India) to develop guideline documents for improved service provision.
The needs and conditions of customers differ from one market segment to the next, as the second table shows.
Which improved service, management and payment options would best suit the needs and demands of different groups? The 'Customer Value Chain' in the box below, sets out key stages in understanding consumer and community groups and which services they are willing to pay for. Know and understand customer groups including attitudes, practices, perceptions, preferences and willingness to sustain payment for improved service options. Key methods include surveys, focus groups, consultation, and local observation. Target specific market segments with appropriate service options at sustainable prices consumers are willing to pay for. Options could include house connections, yard taps and water kiosks, with or without storage tanks. Payment (by post, at a bank, or post office) and shared management options are also possible. Sell or promote options, depending on preferences expressed by different groups. Careful planning and implementation may be necessary with groups using alternative supplies or who have unauthorised connections for which they do not currently pay. Provide services to a good standard which requires utilities to ensure continual organisational improvement, centred on existing and potential customers. Strategic marketing is a systematic and flexible approach that publicly or privately managed water utilities can use (provided the methodologies are suitably adapted to the sector) to provide improved and sustainable services to all consumer groups, including the 50-70 percent of poor people in urban areas currently not being served by a utility.
Kevin Sansom, Sue Coates, Cyrus Njiru
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
