Utility of the Future Center of Excellence

Utility of the Future Center of Excellence

Since 2019, the World Bank and its partners have been working with utilities throughout the world via the Utility of the Future (UoF) Program, developed with support from the Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership (GWSP). UoF is a novel approach that integrates learnings from decades of analytical work and technical assistance to water utilities, including the Water Utility Turnaround Framework. Other studies, including a review of successful urban water utility reforms, support the robustness of this approach. The UoF approach aims to provide tailored assistance to utilities and trigger sustainable performance improvements. It uses participatory methods whereby utility teams are engaged and empowered to transform their utility, optimize essential processes, and develop future-thinking capabilities in order to improve service delivery. Key elements of the UoF process include an in-depth analysis of the utility, the development of a 100-day action plan identifying short-term, “quick-win” measures, and the preparation of a five-year strategic plan to improve performance.

The World Bank, in partnership with the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), has recently launched the Utility of the Future Center of Excellence (UoF-CoE), which will among other activities support a number of utilities in the Western Balkan countries to implement the Utility of the Future methodology and provide additional financing for a limited number of best performing utilities to implement actions. More information can be found at the presentation here.

SHUKALB would like to encourage water utility companies in Albania to participate in this initiative, by pre-registering through the below link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScxQ7AglReGk5WeQV9qVRkaPip5xQuKKRnCpOKEMzb_mF0c8Q/viewform