Moving from Measurement to Monitoring and Improvement

Workshop Report

Service Level Benchmarks (SLB): Moving from Measurement to Monitoring and Improvemen

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February, 2013 Ahmedabad

Organised by: Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India

with Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, Government of Gujarat

CEPT University Water and Sanitation Programme

Administrative Staff College of India All India Institute of Local Self-Government

Urban Management Center

Performance Assessment System (PAS) Project Team CEPT University

Kasturbhai Lalbhai Campus, University Road, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad 380009. Telephone: +91-79- 26302470/26302740; Fax: +91-79-26302075

The Performance Assessment System (PAS) Project (www.pas.org.in) is about developing appropriate methods and tools to measure, monitor and improve delivery of water and sanitation in cities and towns in India. The overarching aim of the research project is to develop an assessment system at local and state level, and link the planning and fund allocation process to performance.

http://www.pas.org.in/�

CONTENTS

Executive Summary 1

DAY I

Inaugural Session: Introduction and Key Note Address

6

Presentations by State Governments on SLB related Experiences 8

Key Lessons from State SLB Initiatives and State Support for Strengthening

Systems 11

Use of SLB for Local Level Monitoring and Performance Improvement -

Open Session 13

DAY II

Presentation of Tools for Performance Assessment, Monitoring and

Improvement 14

Market Place 16

Workshop Agenda 17

List of Participants 18

Service Level Benchmarks (SLB): Moving from Measurement to Monitoring and Improvement

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Executive Summary

In 2008, the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India had announced Service Level Benchmarks (SLB) for water, sanitation, solid wastes and storm water drainage. In 2009, the Thirteenth Finance Commission recommended performance-based grants for urban local bodies. To avail these grants, one of the conditions for the state government is to get SLB related service levels and targets for the four sectors from each urban local body (ULB) in the state and publish them in a state gazette. Many states have initiated the process of collection of information for determining the SLB related service levels and targets. In some states, this information is also being used to plan for service improvements. The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) organised a National Workshop on “Service Level Benchmarks (SLB): Moving from Measurement to Monitoring and Improvement”

on February 6-7, 2013 at Ahmedabad, with support from the CEPT University. The Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) of the World Bank and Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) were other partners of the workshop. The Inaugural Session of the workshop got underway with lighting of the lamp by main guests including Dr. Ashok Singhvi, Joint Secretary, MoUD, Government of India; Mr. S. J. Haider, IAS, Managing Director, Gujarat Urban Development Company (GUDC) and

Dr. Guruprasad Mohapatra, Municipal Commissioner, Ahmedabad.

Dr. Ashok Singhvi in his key note address presented the challenges of efficient and equitable service delivery in urban areas. He elaborated on Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) objectives to encourage reforms and fast-track planned development of cities with focus on efficiency in urban infrastructure and service delivery mechanisms, community participation, and accountability of ULBs/parastatal agencies towards citizens. Elaborating on SLB initiative of MoUD, Dr. Singhvi emphasised that there is an increasing demand from citizens for better and efficient services and benchmarking provides financial and chain of other technical and administrative benefits as well. As a way forward, he discussed five point SLB agenda for ULBs as tracking performance over time, comparing performance with peers, identifying areas for improvement, setting targets for performance and reporting/disclosing performance to stakeholders. Dr. Mohapatra also echoed these points and emphasised that it is necessary to have centralised database to monitor service levels and improvements over


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time. He said that making SLB data available to urban managers and decision-makers will facilitate better resource allocation, planning and monitoring. The workshop reviewed and shared experiences of various states for setting up systems for measuring and monitoring performance using the SLB Framework. It also discussed experiences at city level for development of plans to improve performance on SLB indicators. The participants deliberated on a number of aspects related to service level benchmarking concepts and building capacity for states and ULBs to internalise the same in their planning and monitoring. Challenges of existing institutional structures and technical capacity to fulfil requirements for service level benchmarking were also discussed. Online tools and models for performance assessment, monitoring and improvement were also demonstrated. Key Messages from the Workshop Investment in infrastructure in urban India has not always resulted in commensurate outcomes in terms of service levels. The workshop deliberations reiterated the need for a shift in focus from infrastructure creation to improvements in service performance. It was highlighted that the service level benchmarks for the urban water and sanitation sector have

created the necessary momentum to define and standardise a minimum set of performance parameters that are commonly understood and used across the country. The MoUD has now incorporated service level benchmarks in all national programmes and initiatives. Some of the states such as Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat have scaled up the benchmarking exercise to cover all ULBs in their respective states. These can serve as a demonstration for other states to adopt similar scale up strategies.

The service level benchmarks have now been notified by 13 states for over 1400 cities. The SLB initiative has also highlighted importance of reliable data. More efforts are needed for improving the information systems for various data elements. However, from international experiences, it is also seen that the key challenge is to first institutionalise the benchmarking process. Once this happens, data quality improvements can be taken up on a systematic basis. In this context, the state governments have a critical role to establish State SLB Cells. It is also essential to build adequate capacity of these State Cells and provide adequate financial and technical support in the initial years.


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The following key recommendations emerged from the workshop deliberations. 1. Strengthening State and Local Level SLB Cells:

The SLB approach has advocated the setting up of special cells at state and ULB levels to support introduction and continuous monitoring of SLB. In this context, the workshop re-emphasised the need to set up and strengthen these cells.

Dedicated Support for Setting up and Strengthening SLB Cells at State and ULB Level: Experiences from various states show that state agencies have a critical role to play in setting up SLB cells and providing continuous support for carrying out the task of performance benchmarking and improvement planning. To strengthen the process, state governments must commit financial and technical support in the initial years. This can be provided through a centrally sponsored scheme. Meanwhile, such support can be provided through an existing capacity building scheme. The activities for a state SLB cell should include setting up online systems for annual performance assessment, tools for performance improvement planning, target setting and exposure to good practices relevant to various improvement themes. The role, composition and activities for the state SLB cell also need to be identified clearly through consultations. The state SLB cell can appropriately nurture the city SLB cells and train them to inculcate performance based culture in respective cities. There is also a need to involve elected and political representatives in this process and ensure wider participation and ownership of SLB process at city level.

Capacity Building Workshops for Sharing Tools and Experiences from Performance Benchmarking: While a few states have worked and progressed on the SLB agenda, this experience needs to be shared and propagated with other states that are still in the process of establishing SLB cells. For this purpose, it was suggested to organise more workshops and invite states and ULBs to share their experiences of SLB in proactive states. Assessment and improvement tools and good practices developed across the states should be made widely available for exchange and cross learning between states and cities. The e-SLB Model developed by the CEPT University for online data entry, setting targets and a query-based monitoring system was also presented at this workshop. This has been used successfully for developing state-wide systems in two states of Gujarat and Maharashtra for the past three years. It was recommended that state and city governments can use the e-SLB Model developed by CEPT University, Ahmedabad to generate and monitor service level benchmarks in their state. The CEPT University team will also provide technical support to the state governments in the use of the Model and to institutionalise the SLB process.

Information Systems Improvement Plan (ISIP) Activities: The initial round of data collection for SLB has pointed out difficulties in obtaining reliable information. Information system improvements are required and ULBs have to conduct appropriate analysis, identify data gaps and means of improving the reliability of information. SLB data can be an eye-opener for targeting low-cost improvements through dedicated reforms set by the state. Low data reliability in current benchmarking activities should,


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however, not hinder the routine performance assessment activities. It is expected that over time, ULBs will themselves recognise the need for reliable data.

Shift Submission of SLB and Target Date from March 31 to September 30: As per the recommendation of the Thirteenth Finance Commission, “State Governments must notify or cause all the municipal corporations and municipalities to notify by the end of a fiscal year (31 March) the service standards for four service sectors-water supply, sewerage, storm water drainage, and solid waste management proposed to be achieved by them by the end of the succeeding fiscal year”. To comply with this requirement, the MoUD had asked all ULBs to provide status of SLB as on March 31 and the targets to be achieved. At the workshop, all the participants suggested that the date should be shifted to September 30, as the financial information is usually not available in March, for the same financial year. Also, if targets are known in September, they can be included in the budget preparation process for the subsequent financial year. In this context, it was also discussed to reinitiate quarterly progress review on SLB by MoUD and participating states through existing mechanism like National Steering Committee for SLB.

2. Mandating Service Level Improvements in New Infrastructure Programmes and

Linking Grants to Performance:

MoUD has already introduced SLB reporting as a requirement for all cities seeking Government of India funding under different programmes. The workshop deliberations indicated that this was a very positive trend. The deliberations also pointed to the need for strengthening this through different measures.

Monitoring Service Level Benchmarking in Central and State Supported Programmes and Projects: The discussions recognised that though the SLB exercise has been initiated by the central government, its sustenance at state and city level depends on how it is mainstreamed in existing monitoring systems. It was recognised that the CEPT Model provided tools for online monitoring at state and local level. Such systems can be used to track state-wide service levels and improvements. The online systems are currently configured for annual performance assessment. This can be easily customised to monitor quarterly/monthly data and also capture zonal variations within a ULB.

It was appreciated that MoUD has already mandated SLB in all centrally funded programmes. It was suggested that similar efforts are needed by the state governments for its own programmes. This was necessary to shift the focus from investments alone to service delivery improvements. It was recommended that SLB monitoring should be introduced as a state level mandatory reform in JNNURM-2. This should also take in to account introducing performance based incentives for cities that deliver on committed outcomes. Similarly, the states also need to proactively to set up incentives in their own infrastructure programmes and monitor these rigorously.

Recommendations for Fourteenth Finance Commission for Continuing Performance based Grants: It was suggested that recommendations should be made to the Fourteenth Finance Commission to continue with the requirement for all states and cities to report on SLB as a condition for performance grants. To ensure compliance of such conditions by state and local governments, it is essential to provide technical and financial support


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for setting effective state level SLB cells. It was also suggested that the Fourteenth Finance Commission should recommend strict monitoring of the performance levels and target achievements by central and state governments. In addition, the reform related to preparation of supplement to the state budget on the local bodies is also essential as it will help create database of plan and non-plan fund transfers to ULBs which can be integrated to SLB for better monitoring.

3. Additional Indicators for SLB Framework and Tools to Capture Consumer Perspective

to Enable Localised Planning:

The workshop recognised that the current set of SLB indicators do not capture the reality on the ground, especially in wastewater disposal and treatment. It was also felt that within the framework of inclusive development, it is important to capture equity aspects of service delivery.

Additional Indicators Related to Equity (Slums) and for On-site Sanitation Systems: The workshop deliberations highlighted the need for additional SLB indicators in two areas, namely for equity and for on-site sanitation systems. For equity,

in coming years, urban infrastructure provision in small and medium towns is going to be a major challenge. These towns are visibly deficient in the quality of sanitation infrastructure and grapple with issues related to equity in service provision. The SLB Framework does not capture indicators related to equity in services (e.g. slum settlements) and on-site sanitation.

The current SLB Indicators for sanitation focus on conventional networked underground sewage systems. As seen from Gujarat and Maharashtra, these indicators are not applicable for smaller towns, which predominantly depend on on-site sanitation. Similarly, indicators for wastewater treatment capture sewage treatment plants that are capable of secondary level treatment. This does not leave the scope to include decentralised systems, or other systems for treating sullage and faecal sludge. The workshop proposed to add indicators for capturing equity in service provision and non-conventional sanitation management and treatment systems. Linking SLB with Community-linked System (e.g. SLB Connect) to Capture Demand Side Assessment and Assist in Local Planning: While the SLB Framework has been developed to capture city level performance from supply side on urban water supply and sanitation, the deliberations highlighted the need for including the consumer perspective as well. This can help provide disaggregated demand side data and an opportunity to engage with citizens. The ‘SLB Connect’ Project piloted by the Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) in Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation demonstrates an opportunity to leverage mobile media for monitoring service levels through citizen engagement. The survey has provided quick reality check for reported SLB data, and more granular information for localised improvement planning. Interactive dashboards linked to the tool provide spatial and demographic details through minimal clicks and can be customised to group relevant information based on stakeholder’s interest. Use of information and communications technology (ICT) devices helps reduce time lag between survey and results and gives a greater quality control of survey process. Besides, repeat surveys are easy and have easy replicability.


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Inaugural Session: Introduction and Key Note Address

Prof. Dinesh Mehta from CEPT University welcomed the participants and introduced the broader objectives of the two day meeting hosted by MoUD and partners. The Inaugural Session of the workshop got underway with lighting of the lamp by main guests including Dr. Ashok Singhvi, Joint Secretary, MoUD, GoI; Mr. S. J. Haider, IAS, Managing Director, Gujarat Urban Development Company (GUDC) and Dr. Guruprasad Mahapatra, Municipal Commissioner, Ahmedabad. CEPT team and partners AIILSG and UMC also joined in the inaugural ceremony. The workshop was attended by representatives of State Governments of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Representatives from cities in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh also attended the workshop. Representatives from partner’s organizations, WSP and ASCI also actively participated in the workshop. Dr. Guruprasad Mohapatra in his address welcomed the participants of the workshop and shared his perspective on increased importance of service level benchmarking in the context of rapid urbanisation and increasing investments in urban sector. He drew references to JNNURM, the largest central programme that injected funds for urban infrastructure creation and how it became important to benchmark services to review progress and outputs for such large infrastructure investments. Citing urbanisation statistics for Gujarat, he emphasised that it is necessary to have centralised database that helps assess service levels and tracks changes in them. Making SLB mandatory will go a long way in making this data available to urban managers and decision-makers and facilitate better resource allocation, planning and monitoring. Mr. Haider welcomed the participants on behalf of Government of Gujarat. Referring to the rapid urbanisation in Gujarat, he added that the urbanisation is accompanied with its own challenges including haphazard growth, proliferation of informal settlements and deterioration of service levels of basic services. He welcomed the increased emphasis on requirements to gazette existing service levels and targets every year by all ULBs as mandated by the Thirteenth Finance Commission for accessing performance based grants. Developments vis-à-vis creation of SLB Cell in Gujarat and activities supported by Cell including gazetting service levels and targets for the last two years were also presented. He emphasised that SLB targets should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based (SMART) targets, set realistically and cities should invest in making information systems more reliable over the period of time. To operationalise SLB cells at city level, he stressed the need for dedicated staff and capacity building of officials for better monitoring of SLB data and service delivery. Dr. Ashok Singhvi in his key note address presented the overall scenario of urbanisation in India and challenges of efficient and equitable service delivery in urban areas. He elaborated on JNNURM objectives to encourage reforms and fast-track planned development of cities with focus on efficiency in urban infrastructure and service delivery mechanisms. He also


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lauded efforts of cities to engage with communities and the increased accountability of ULBs/ parastatal agencies towards citizens.

To encourage and facilitate adoption of the SLB Framework outlined in the Handbook of Service Level Benchmarking, the MoUD had launched an SLB Pilot Initiative in February 2009. The Initiative involved provision of technical support for implementation of the Framework in 28 pilot cities across 14 states and one union territory. The overarching aim of the SLB Pilot Initiative was to take the SLB Framework forward from concept to practice. Moreover, it aimed to establish the link

between benchmarking and performance improvement efforts. By doing so, it is expected that ULBs/utilities would be encouraged to integrate the benchmarking process and its outputs into their decision-making processes. Elaborating on SLB initiative of MoUD, Dr. Singhvi emphasised that there is an increasing demand from citizens for better and efficient services. Benchmarking provides increased transparency in local government operations and provides financial benefits as well. Talking about nine conditions laid by the Thirteenth Finance Commission (TFC), Dr. Singhvi shared that about Rs. 1800 crores had been disbursed by MoUD as performance grants and a balance of Rs. 1200 crores can still be disbursed to states that satisfy the conditions laid down by TFC. As a way forward, he discussed five point SLB agenda for ULBs (a) tracking performance over time, (b) comparing performance with peers, (c) identifying areas for improvement, (d) setting targets for performance, and (e) reporting/disclosing performance to stakeholders. MoUD has now incorporated these principles in its programmes/initiatives like JNNURM, Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT), Satellite Townships programme He mentioned that states like Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat are already in the process of scaling up the benchmarking exercise to cover a larger number of cities in their respective states. They can serve as a demonstration for other states to adopt similar scale up strategies. Prof. Dinesh Mehta demonstrated customised dashboards using four year performance data generated for 419 ULBs in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The customised dashboards are now available on Performance Assessment System (PAS) Project’s web portal, which has been designed as a monitoring tool. The PAS portal allows viewing of city and state level reports, provides interactive tools for viewing state level results, and enables ULBs to compare their results for all SLB indicators with state

http://urbanindia.nic.in/programme/uwss/slb/List_Pilot_Cities.pdf�


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averages and other ULBs. It is possible to do a comparative review of service levels across four years for all the 419 cities in two states. Data visualisation through interactive dashboards is possible with Tableau software. The participants were informed that the SLB indicators are available in the public domain through the PAS web site for Gujarat and Maharashtra. The process of data collection and annual workshops in Gujarat was elaborated by Mr. Haider. Participants also discussed that in addition to aggregated annual data, cities should also attempt quarterly data updates and also collect information at ward levels. The participants also discussed the need for incentives to encourage cities to do systematic quarterly assessment and make it a part of their routine work. Prof. V Srinivas Chary, Director, Centre for Energy, Environment, Urban Governance and Infrastructure Development, ASCI shared experiences of data collection for 1400 ULBs at ASCI and hinted that it may be too premature to assume that data is perfect at this stage assuming the data reliability systems in place in the ULBs. He pointed out the need to invest time and resources for improving data quality and putting systems in place for more reliable data. Some of the participants felt that while data reliability is important, it should not stop ULBs from regular performance assessment. Data reliability improvement is a continuous process and must be taken up along with performance improvements. The discussions also highlighted that performance benchmarking should be a sustained process and should be pursued as a continuous activity in the ULBs and in the state government. Importance of involving key stakeholders was also highlighted as necessary to improve accountability and improve service delivery. Dr. Singhvi mentioned that it is important to design and implement bankable projects for urban water supply and sanitation (UWSS) sector. For data improvement systems, he suggested that cities can start off collecting data without over emphasising its reliability. Refinement in reliability parameters can come over time. Presentations by State Governments on SLB Related Experiences Representatives from various states presented their SLB related experience. Mr. J. K. Vyas, Vice Chairman, GUDC shared experience of SLB in Gujarat. Gujarat has constituted a state level SLB Cell at Urban Development and Housing Department on December 1, 2011. The terms of references of SLB Cell’s activities were highlighted. He also shared the proposed annual schedule of activities and briefly shared the results of the Gujarat on SLB indicators over the past four years. Under Performance Improvement, he elaborated upon thematic areas where ISIPs are being implemented in Gujarat including preliminary water audit support for ten cities.


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Dr. (Prof.) Sneha Palnitkar shared SLB experience in the state of Maharashtra. Maharashtra has constituted the state level SLB Cell as per government resolution (GR) dated April 10, 2012. She shared experiences of data collection and support provided by AIILSG at various stages of collection, validation and publication of the results. The presentation also highlighted the challenges associated with data collection in larger municipal corporations, where ward level offices had to be

approached for collecting SLB data. In Maharashtra, through the SLB Cell, efforts have concentrated on capacity building of ULBs for online assessment, its validation and gazette publication. Through the PAS Project, support is being provided to 15 class ‘A’ cities in Maharashtra for Performance Improvement Plans. City Sanitation Planning support is being provided to four small towns to develop sanitation solutions across the value chain. Data collection for SLB 2011-12 has recently started in January end, which will enable Government of Maharashtra (GoM) to publish the SLB data and targets in the SLB Gazette by the end of March 2013. Mr. Wasudeo Gorde, Principal Advisor, Change Management Unit (CMU), GoM briefed on the key pointers emerging from the four year data analysis for Maharsahtra. He reiterated the case of moving from performance measurement to performance management. Emphasising that “reforms” are the key action and not more “investments”, Mr. Gorde mentioned that key pointers from benchmarking exercise have been shared with GoM to assist in planning new investments, reform areas and providing focused support to lagging cities. Mr. Manoj Nanda, Government of Odisha shared experiences of SLB benchmarking in Odisha. He mentioned that process started with rapid benchmarking of 82 ULBs in 2008. Since then, the SLB process has been scaled up and in 2011-12, SLB notifications were given for 103 ULBs. The Housing and Urban Development Department in Odisha, with the intent of institutionalising SLB, has constituted an SLB Implementation Unit (SIU) at the state level with technical support of WSP. The SIU is established with the objective of operationalising SLB, providing support for PIP/ISIP and disseminating good practices. The presentation also discussed the challenges faced in existing system for sustaining SLB. Shortages of human resources, low priority accorded to SLB by ULBs and state governments, poor data quality, and inadequate capacity at local level were some of the issues highlighted. It was felt that overcoming these issues will lead to more sustainable SLB process. It was mentioned that specifying baseline performance indicators and the expected performance level on completion of project are now mandated for all new urban development projects in Odisha. The WSP team added that SLB process has been internalised by the Public Health Engineering Organisation team in Odisha and the link between PHEO and ULBs has been covered through a Memorandum of Association (MoA). The MoA clearly states that service level benchmarks have to be monitored by the service provider.


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Mr. V. S. Mahecha, Executive Engineer, Public Health Engineering Department, Government of Rajasthan elaborated on energy saving activities in water supply. He informed the participants that the arrangements with private contracts mandate 10 percent savings for the local governments and any saving beyond 10 percent is transferred to the private contractor. He also shared results of leak detection initiatives in Jaipur. Mr. Tarun Lad, City Engineer, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) briefed about the SLB related initiatives undertaken in Ahmedabad. He informed that a city level, SLB Cell has been established in AMC which is headed by the commissioner. He shared the obligatory and discretionary services of AMC. The process of data collection was then explained. The ward level data is collected by the head of the department, which is then validated with the stakeholders. He informed that some information, e.g. water quality is uploaded on the website fortnightly and is published in the newspaper on a quarterly basis. He emphasised on the salient features and good practices in AMC in water, sewerage and solid waste sectors. He also discussed the ISIP. He concluded with learning from SLB and way forward with three year action plan for Ahmedabad city. Mr. K. H. Khatwani, Additional City Engineer from Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) shared experiences from SLB process for Surat. The presentation highlighted SLB indicators of SMC with past and current status along with targets and achievements. He briefly described water supply system in Surat and highlighted several water security measures like strengthening of the grid, dual power supply etc. for better services. He narrated the challenges that the city is facing to meet the prescribed service level benchmarks. He discussed the various initiatives that have been taken up by SMC to improve performance levels. He described efforts to reduce operation and maintenance cost of water supply through measures related to improved energy efficiency and savings in electricity costs. The presentation concluded with action plans for better service delivery. Prof. Dinesh Mehta made a presentation on “Web Based Systems for Performance Assessment in PAS Project”. The presentation briefly described objectives of the Project and support provided to Gujarat and Maharashtra to collate performance assessment data for last four years. The presentation introduced PAS Project’s web portal www.pas.org.in, which is developed as an online platform to bring together, review and share information related to UWSS for Gujarat and Maharashtra. The PAS web portal provides various tools for performance measurement, data capture, analysis and report generation. Interactive dashboards using business intelligence software (Tableau) are now available through the portal to connect to data easily, visualise and create interactive dashboards. Discussions with GoM have been initiated to use PAS web portal for monitoring reforms under the Maharashtra Sujal Nirmal Abhiyan (MSNA). Efforts are also geared towards interacting with elected representatives (viz. Mayors’ Forum for Municipal Corporations in Maharashtra, upcoming President’s Forum etc.) to raise awareness on water and sanitation priorities in their cities through providing access to interactive dashboards and customised reports on SLB.



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At the end of the session, Dr. Singhvi summed up the discussions of the session by emphasising on increased accountability from ULBs and state counterparts. He mentioned that in addition to SLB, there should be a thought process on internal targets and performance improvement measures as well. While idea for incentivising can be explored, lack of it cannot be given as an excuse for lack of improvement initiatives by ULBs at their own level. While the availability of funds is not a constraint, the

serious implementers can also avail support under MoUD capacity building programme to progress on the SLB agenda. Drawing references to wastewater recycling programmes being pursued, he underlined that there can be creative ways of engaging stakeholders, reducing costs and being more efficient to deliver better services in our cities. Regarding data reliability, he suggested that onus of producing reliable data and validation of same should be on the ULBs. He urged all the states to work in close coordination and take the SLB agenda more seriously. This can be appropriately supported by the Centre under various existing support programmes. Key Lessons from State SLB Initiatives and State Support for Strengthening Systems Ms. Vandana Bhatnagar from WSP presented “SLB Connect-Leveraging Mobile Media for Enhancing Service Levels through Citizen Engagement”. The presentation focused on using ICT to track service delivery. She presented the mobile tool for surveys, which has a multi-lingual interface and data can be submitted on real-time basis with greater accuracy through geo-tagging and time stamping of data. This tool is on open source platform (Android), has built-in consistency checks and data capture capabilities in text, images and video. The tool has been used on a pilot basis in Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, wherein survey of 5,000 households was accomplished over two months. Survey management module and dashboard features were demonstrated online through website www.slbconnect.in. The participants enquired if the tool can be used for other cities as well for capturing citizen perspective on service level benchmarking. Prof. V Srinivas Chary from ASCI made a presentation on lessons from service level benchmark programme. ASCI has facilitated support for 1400 ULBs to disclose information in a designated format and as per definitions of SLB. ASCI has also undertaken capacity building through handholding support and customised training programmes. Training of trainers has been supported through various regional institutes and study tours and sharing of good practices has been encouraged between ULBs.

http://www.slbconnect.in/�


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Elaborating upon analysis of SLB, he said that there is a growing acceptance of SLB among the ULBs and governments. He talked about some quick wins like coverage improvement in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh But he also emphasised that service levels without reliability score can undermine the process. He emphasised the need for linking detailed project reports to SLB process. While concluding the presentation, he reiterated the need for setting up SLB cell in each ULB, and strengthening the process of

performance improvements to achieve the targets. Dissemination of SLB results to reach various stakeholders was key to getting communities interested in SLB process. The presentation stressed that state ownership is critical and this activity will not be possible without continuous monitoring from state agencies and commitments from ULB leaders. Prof. Meera Mehta, CEPT University presented on “Mainstreaming SLB Monitoring”. She discussed about moving from infrastructure funding to improving service delivery. The presentation shared international experiences in mainstreaming UWSS performance benchmarking like National Water Initiative in Australia, Canada and other countries. Experiences from global benchmarking efforts led by utility associations, governments, and regulators were also discussed. She highlighted the need for mainstreaming SLB in ULBs and state governments. She also suggested that after four years of SLB experience, there is a need to review SLB indicators and suggest missing areas, such as indicators on equity and on-site sanitation. Discussion on mainstreaming SLB in state government was held. Participants from Odisha mentioned that a proposal for strengthening SLB in Odisha is under active consideration of the state government. Suggestions were also made to foster partnerships between ULBs to promote learning from each other. Representative from Manipur commented that SLB system can help in easier and quicker planning. North-eastern states are lagging behind due to adverse social and political conditions and they feel that financial sustainability of UWSS projects and service delivery should be prioritised.


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Use of SLB for Local Level Monitoring and Performance Improvement Participants shared their experiences on use of SLB for local level monitoring and performance improvements.

Use of SLB Information for Performance Improvement: The participants felt that SLB exercise helps reveal priority areas that can be strategically focused by state and cities for service improvements. Currently, the prioritisation is ad-hoc and lacks any defined improvement goals. This can be addressed by institutionalising SLB in ULBs and linking it to planning and budgeting process. Further capacity building programmes and field visits of ULBs, especially with better performing cities, can facilitate learning and lead to improved service delivery. There was some discussion on making comparison of small towns with larger cities. It was stated that the level of investments in small town is much less and correspondingly, one cannot expect a major improvement in SLB indicators. However, it was also pointed out that given the small size, it is easier to provide services efficiently. In this context, examples of small towns from Maharashtra – Malkapur with 24x7 water supply and Mahad, which has achieved open defecation free status – were discussed. However, it was agreed that there is a need to revisit the SLB indicators, especially for wastewater as many small towns do not have sewerage systems and waste treatment plants. For these towns, indicators of on-site sanitation and faecal sludge management may be more appropriate. It was suggested that performance linked grants serve as good incentive for ULBs. However, it may be useful to introduce ‘outcome based budget’ for ULBs. This is achieved by linking budget expenditures to service outcomes. A performance linked grant system can serve as a useful motivation for state governments to mainstream SLB in their monitoring system. The TFC grant is currently given at state level. It should further be shared with ULBs by linking it to the achievement of targets. Setting up of SLB Cells at State and ULB Level: With reference to SLB cells, it was discussed that state agencies have a critical role through the SLB cell to induce performance based culture. Financial and technical support for city level SLB cells can help expedite the agenda of mainstreaming SLB at local level and improve service delivery. The role, composition and activities for the SLB cell at state and city level need to be specified and laid out clearly through consultations among all stakeholders at state level. Discussions hinted that there is also a need to involve elected representatives in this process. Experiences related to UIDSSMT projects reveal that in spite of dedicated project implementation units (PIU), cities have not been able to spend the allocated funds. Mere establishment of new cells will not expedite the agenda unless there is clarity on role, appropriate training and clearly stated outputs. There were also views on composition of SLB cells. It was suggested that states should consider inclusion of non-governmental


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organisations (NGOs) and corporate sector representatives in the SLB cells at local and state level. One of the constraints shared by the participants related to lack of dedicated staff to carry out the activities of SLB cell, such as regular data updating and monitoring. Some participants suggested that it may be more useful to groom existing staff in various departments of ULB to carry out SLB tasks, rather than developing a separate team. Odisha participants observed that JNNURM project management units have been created in mission cities by recruiting new staff or taking staff on deputation. But they do not support SLB work. In larger cities (or municipal corporations), where management information system (MIS) cells or teams have been already set up, the SLB cells can be suitably dovetailed to work more closely with them or be part of such structures. While support will be needed for establishing state level SLB cells, some of the states have already shown initiative by taking the SLB agenda forward with their own efforts and only some support may be required from the Central Government on capacity building and sharing of tools. It was suggested that the MoUD may consider supporting states for establishing SLB cell and insist that all mission cities of JNNURM and UIDSSMT should have a SLB cell integrated with project management unit. Improvement of Information Systems: The participants felt that information system improvements are needed to increase reliability of SLB indicators. This also provides possibilities of achieving improvements without heavy capital investments and helps achieve quick wins. SLB data can be an eye-opener for targeting low-cost improvements through dedicated reforms set by the state. Technical and monetary support can also be provided to ULBs through state initiatives and desired improvements can be achieved through focused efforts.

Day 2: Presentation of Tools on Performance Assessment, Monitoring and Improvement

Prof. Dinesh Mehta provided a recap of previous day’s deliberations. He mentioned that it is critical to think about ways to sustain SLB process once the support from partner agencies is withdrawn. The handholding support should leave behind system that has internalised the process and can sustain after external support ceases. It was mentioned that there may be ways to help states that have yet not initiated the SLB process through sharing measurement framework, tools and other experiences from PAS Project. He mentioned that tools developed by PAS Project are available publicly and can be shared with interested ULBs and state governments.

Ms. Jaladhi Vavaliya from CEPT University demonstrated the online tool developed for performance assessment. The presentation highlighted online data and target setting module in the PAS portal. It also explained how the PAS web portal can be used to know the state and city profile, overview of city’s information, comparison of a city with the peer group. The interactive dashboards were also demonstrated and explained.


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Ms. Meghna Malhotra from UMC presented on “ISIP-PIP Initiatives” with cities in Gujarat. UMC is supporting cities for performance improvement planning on several thematic areas. The support essentially comprises review of existing data and practices related to the thematic area. Data is collected through field visits and interactions with city officials.

Analysis of collected data is subsequently shared with cities through data analysis workshop and consensus is reached on possible interventions for improvements. Handholding and technical support is provided to cities through exposure visit to better performing cities on the thematic areas. The team also helps cities identify, plan and phase possible resources for improvement activities to enhance their performance on selected theme. Finally, a detailed city-wise report is prepared for each city with prioritised improvement actions and costing. Findings from drinking water quality surveillance study carried out in Jetpur and proposed standard operating procedures were also presented. Another presentation described findings from study of cost recovery of water supply in small towns.

Mr. Anurag Anthony from UMC discussed about “Improvement in Public Grievance Redressal System (PGR) in Gujarat ULBs”. He discussed UMC’s study on PGR systems in four ULBs, workshop to highlight improvements with ULBs, exposure visit for ULBs and piloting of a simple tool for recording complaints in small cities.

Ms. Utkarsha Kavadi, AIILSG delivered a presentation on “Making Cities Open Defecation Free (ODF)”. The presentation discussed different programmes by central and GoM for safe access to sanitation in urban areas. It demonstrated the open defecation scenario and conditions of functional and non-functional community toilets in smaller towns in Maharashtra. A case study on Mahad, a class C city in Maharashtra was demonstrated along with discussions and efforts of city officials in making Mahad ODF.

Ms. Chandan Chawla, CEPT University demonstrated the PIP Model developed for service improvement planning. The Model is currently being tested in selected cities of Gujarat and Maharashtra. The presentation explained approach to improvement planning. Further each of the sub-modules, performance assessment, inter-sectoral planning and financial assessment were presented in detail. Using a case study of class B municipality in Maharashtra, the application of Model for various improvement scenarios was presented. The Model helps in getting a summary of financial plan along with detailed capital expenditure requirement for each PIP action.


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Market Place

The presentations were followed by the Market Place exhibition by CEPT, UMC and AIILSG. During the event, hands-on training was supported by CEPT team and partners for various tools presented in the workshop.

The participants thanked MoUD, CEPT and PAS partners for organising the workshop. The city representatives noted that it was good to know and exchange practices on SLB. They suggested that similar workshops are needed at state level and city level to get the city officials and elected representatives familiar with SLB. Use of SLB in preparing investment plans needs to be encouraged.

Closing Session:

Prof. Meera Mehta stated that the larger objective of National Workshop was to share the PAS-SLB work experience with other states, which to an extent was fulfilled by participation of states and sharing of experiences by various technical and support agencies that have furthered the SLB agenda in their respective states. The PAS team offered technical support to all states and cities to strengthen their SLB process.

Ms. Manvita Baradi from UMC mentioned that experience gained by Maharashtra and Gujarat is useful for other states, especially the specific knowledge on improvement planning and efforts to mainstream through SLB cell. Dr. Palnitkar mentioned that capacity building of ULBs regarding the SLB is a critical issue and the partners will continue to support ULBs in their states.

The CEPT team appreciated support of MoUD, ASCI and WSP for the workshop. It was mentioned that service level benchmarks have come a long way from its pilot phase in 2008. They are now firmly entrenched in the central government. The next step is to mainstream them in the state level monitoring system. At the local level, service level benchmarks have proved to be useful for investment decisions. With dissemination of service level benchmarks to wider public, it can become a useful tool to improve accountability at local level and lead to improvements in service delivery.

The workshop ended with thanks to all partners and participants.


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Workshop Agenda

Day One 6th February, 2013 10.00 – 11.00 Inaugural Session and Key Note Address Municipal Commissioner,

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation

Managing Director, Gujarat Urban Development Company (Additional Chief Executive Officer, Gujarat Urban Development Mission)

Joint Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India

CEPT University 11.00 – 13.30 Presentations by State Governments on SLB

Related Experiences Chair: Joint Secretary, Ministry

of Urban Development Presentations by State Governments: Gujarat,

Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha and Rajasthan Presentations by Cities on SLB Related

Experiences: Ahmedabad, Surat, Bhubaneshwar and Jaipur

Web-based Systems for Performance Assessment SLB/PAS (CEPT)

13.30 – 14.30 LUNCH 14.30 – 15.15 SLB Connect, ICT Initiative

Key Lessons from SLB Programmes (AP, Kerala and Chhattisgarh)

Mainstreaming SLB in India

Water and Sanitation Programme Administrative Staff College of India CEPT

15.15 – 16.30 Open Discussions: City Level SLB Experiences – Use of SLB for Local Level Monitoring and Performance Improvement

All participants

16.30 – 17.00 Closing Remarks for Day 1 CEPT 17.00 – 19.00 Field Visit – Riverfront/BRTS Arranged by Ahmedabad

Municipal Corporation Day Two 7th February, 2013 10.00 – 10.15 Recap of Previous Day CEPT 10.15 – 11.15

Presentations on Tools Developed under PAS Project

All participants

Online Tools – Data Entry and Target Setting CEPT Information System Improvement Urban Management Center Making Cities ‘Open Defecation Free’ All India Institute of Local Self-

Government PIP Model CEPT

11.15 – 12.00 Visit Exhibition Materials and Online/Live Demonstration of Models and Tools

All participants

12.00 – 12.30 Close of Workshop 12.30 – 13.00 LUNCH


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List of Participants Sr. No.

List of Participants Designation/Organisation

1 Anand Pratik Deputy Manager (Project), Gujarat Urban Development Company 2 Anthony Anurag Regional Programme Manager, South Asia, Urban Management

Centre

3 Arickal Binu Programme Officer, WaterAid 4 Baradi Manvita Director, Urban Management Centre 5 Basugade Sunil Sectional Engineer, Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (Satara

Division)

6 Bhatnagar Vandana Institutional Development Specialist, Water and Sanitation Programme

7 Bhattacharjee Nabaroon

Team Leader, Project Management Unit, Capacity Building for Urban Development Project, Ministry of Urban Development

8 Bhavsar Dhruv CEPT University 9 Srinivas V Chary Administrative Staff College of India

10 Chavda Harish Assistant City Engineer (Water Project), Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation

11 Chawla Chandan CEPT University 12 Chekkala Jayalaxmi All India Institute of Local Self-Government 13 Chhajed Paresh CEPT University 14 Dabhi Kantibhai Assistant Manager, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation 15 Deodhar Anand All India Institute of Local Self-Government 16 Desai Ruchita Deputy Manager, Gujarat Urban Development Company, Urban

Development and Urban Housing Department, Government of Gujarat

17 Devmurari C.C. Deputy Engineer (Water Supply), Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation

18 Doshi Prerak System Manager (IT), Gujarat Urban Development Company, Government of Gujarat

19 Dr. Ashok Singhvi, IAS Joint Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India

20 Dr. Guruprasad Mohapatra, IAS

Municipal Commissioner, Ahmedabad

21 Gajjar Rushi CEPT University 22 Gandhi Shailya Project Trainee, Tata Consultancy Services 23 Gautam Akhilesh Senior Technical Advisor, Sustainable Urban Habitat, Gesellschaft

für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Agency for International Cooperation)

24 Gohil V.P. Executive Engineer (Solid Waste Management), Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation

25 Gorde Wasudeo Principal Advisor, Change Management Unit, All India Institute of Local Self-Government

26 Immanuel Anitha CEPT University 27 Jogi Arvindnath Assistant Manager (Planning Department), Ahmedabad Municipal

Corporation


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28 Joshi Mayank Member, WES-NET India 29 Kansara Pranav Assistant Manager, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation 30 Kapoor Dheeraj CEPT University 31 Karen R.D. Deputy City Engineer, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation 32 Kavadi Utkarsha All India Institute of Local Self-Government 33 Khanama Vishal Assistant Municipal Commissioner, AMC (East Zone) 34 Khatwani K.H. Additional City Engineer, Surat Municipal Corporation 35 Lad Tarun City Engineer, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation 36 Lalani Naznin All India Institute of Local Self-Government 37 Mahato Prabhat Ranjan CEPT University 38 Mahecha V.S. Executive Engineer, Public Health Engineering Department,

Government of Rajasthan 39 Malhotra Meghna Urban Management Centre 40 Mallick R.N. Executive Engineer, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation,

Government of Odisha

41 Mansuri Aasim CEPT University 42 Mehta Biraj Junior Programme Associate, All India Institute of Local Self-

Government 43 Mehta Dinesh CEPT University 44 Mehta Meera CEPT University 45 Mistry Falgun Additional City Engineer - Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation 46 Mohammed Maharoof CEPT University 47 Mr. S. J. Haider, IAS Managing Director, Gujarat Urban Development Company

(Additional Chief Executive Officer, Gujarat Urban Development Mission)

48 Mudgerikar Arun Retired Director, Wateraid India and United Nations Children's Fund

49 Mukane Pallavi All India Institute of Local Self-Government 50 Nagpure Ronak CEPT University 51 Nair Anita All India Institute of Local Self-Government 52 Nanda M R Executive Engineer, Public Health Engineering Organisation,

Government of Odisha 53 Padalia Lalit Municipal Commissioner, Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation 54 Palnitkar Sneha Director, Regional Centres for Urban and Environmental Studies, All

India Institute of Local Self-Government 55 Pandya Pankil Trainee, Tata Consultancy Services 56 Pandya Prashant Deputy Director, Solid Waste Management, Ahmedabad Municipal

Corporation 57 Parmar Jainil Urban Planning Officer, Gujarat Urban Development Mission 58 Parmar Krunal Project Associate, Urban Management Centre 59 Patankar S. N. All India Institute of Local Self-Government

60 Patel Bhavesh Project Associate, Urban Management Centre 61 Patel Bhavin SDO, Gujarat Urban Development Mission

62 Patel Darshana Environment Engineer, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation

63 Patel Hemal Project Associate, Urban Management Centre


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64 Patel Ilesh Tata Consultancy Services 65 Patel Maitri CEPT University 66 Patel Manish Assistant City Engineer (Water Project), Ahmedabad Municipal

Corporation 67 Patel Mayoor Additional City Engineer Water Project, Ahmedabad Municipal

Corporation 68 Patel Nilesh Executive Assistant (Water Supply), Surat Municipal Corporation 69 Patel Vinay Project Associate, Urban Management Centre 70 Pillai Kinjal Project Associate, Urban Management Centre 71 Ponkshe Amruta All India Institute of Local Self-Government 72 Ravinder J.B. Deputy Adviser (PHE), Central Public Health and Environmental

Engineering Organisation, Ministry of Urban Development

73 Rawal Nilima Equity Specialist, Urban Management Centre 74 Sakhare Nitu All India Institute of Local Self-Government 75 Shah Dhara CEPT University 76 Shah Ketan Deputy Manager (Project), Gujarat Urban Development Company,

Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, Government of Gujarat

77 Shah Prashant Deputy Manager, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation 78 Shah Saurabh Assistant Manager, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation 79 Sheth Sanjeev Assistant Manager, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation 80 Singh Th. Lokeshwore Superintending Engineer, Urban Circle, Public Health Engineering

Department, Government of Manipur

81 Singh Arvind Programme Manager, Urban Management Centre

82 Singh L. Ibomcha Superintending Engineer, R-I, Public Health Engineering Department, Government of Manipur

83 Singh Pawan Kumar Chief Municipal Officer, Raisen Nagarpalika 84 Singh Rahul Assistant Municipal Commissioner, Jabalpur Municipal Corporation 85 Singh Shiv Executive Engineer, Public Health Engineering Department,

Government of Rajasthan 86 Soni Sidharth Project Associate, Urban Management Centre 87 Sontakke Ashish CEPT University 88 Sorathia Hetal Deputy Manager (Project), Gujarat Urban Development Company,

Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, Government of Gujarat

89 Suman K. L Chief Municipal Officer, Ashta 90 Vachharajani Harsh Trainee, Tata Consultancy Services 91 Vashumwo

Shangreiphao Superintending Engineer, R-II, Public Health Engineering Department, Government of Manipur

92 Vavaliya Jaladhi CEPT University 93 Vyas J.K. Vice-President, Gujarat Urban Development Company 94 Yagnik Hardik System Analyst, Gujarat Urban Development Mission, Urban

Development and Urban Housing Department, Government of Gujarat

95 Yashodhar Modi Deputy City Engineer, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation

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PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT SYSTEM (PAS) PROJECT CEPT University Kasturbhai Lalbhai Campus, University Road, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad – 380009, Gujarat, India Telephone: +91-79-26302470 Fax: +91-79-2630 2075

www.pas.org.in


Moving from Measurement to Monitoring and Improvement

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