6 ways to strengthen consumer voice in water and sanitation sector through ICT platforms

• MajiVoice is a platform for communication between citizens and water utilities in Nairobi. It was determined early on that users preferred calling instead of using SMSs (short text messages) to report problems with water service delivery, or to report the lack of information about water service problems from utility providers. Majivoice now allows users to call in addition to sending SMS messages.
• NextDrop is a platform developed in India which provides information about water delivery. During the initial pilot of the platform, older users had problems using the SMS system as it required reading and understanding specific code lines. This issue prompted NextDrop to adopt an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system that accepts voice inputs and provides voice responses.

3. Manage the quality of information.

Information sent by citizens often has to be verified for validity because the data sent is normally composed of many parts and needs to be interpreted before taking action. For example, a complaint submitted through the MajiVoice platform needs to undergo a validation process before a technical team is sent to address the complaint. The design of the system should allow for a verification process.

4.  Ensure the system is responsive and that applications are connected to a clear mechanism of action that can respond to feedback and complaints.

According to the World Bank Social Accountability Sourcebook, the most crucial and challenging element of a social accountability strategy is to be able to elicit a response from public officials and achieve real change [3]. In the case of MajiVoice, the team made a considerable effort to achieve near instant automatic confirmation by using text messages. These messages were meant to give customers an immediate feeling of receiving a “response” with reassurance that their complaint was taken seriously, as well as the ability to track the response. More importantly, the MajiVoice system was firmly integrated with the utility customer care department, which in the majority of cases successfully resolved individual complaints.

Each submitted data point (i.e. complaint) is assigned to utility staff members for action. Kenyan utilities are subject to binding service provision agreements (SPAs). The SPAs legally oblige utilities to respond to complaints of particular categories in a given time. If they fail to respond, the regulator is empowered to take enforcement action up to a withdrawal of licenses. This clear mechanism of action gives the system a major advantage over social-accountability mechanisms that collect feedback, but fail to achieve concrete action beyond publication and discussion of data.

• Trust that government agencies or service providers will respond to reports.

One of the key challenges of providing a system to address citizens’ complaints has been the inability of governments and service providers to adequately respond to these complaints, thus making the system irrelevant. Low expectations of government services based on prior unresponsiveness create a lack of motivation for users to report issues. It is crucial to establish the capacity to respond to queries prior to implementing a system. Service providers and government agencies can gain the trust of their customers and constituents through timely acknowledgement and response to reports, even when a solution is not immediately possible. Projects like MajiVoice, NextDrop, M4W and WQR (Water Quality Reporter, an ICT tool for monitoring drinking water quality and water sources) are all clear examples of applications where reporting is linked to responsiveness.