Developing a tool to measure the organizational resilience of Tanzania's water supply systems

Abstract

Confronted with serious environmental challenges, water supply organizations in Tanzania struggle to prioritize and allocate resources to building resilience to floods so that they can provide uninterrupted service or resume services after a crisis in a timely manner. A study of the key indicators and principles of organizational resilience, combined with input from a panel of water industry experts, led to the development of a tool to gauge organizational resilience that was tested with data from a Tanzanian water authority. Awareness of environmental issues, having an emergency response plan in place, providing staff and the public with opportunities to learn more about building resiliency, clear and ongoing communications, and strong leadership emerged as the most important indicators for measuring the organizational resilience of water supply systems. Encompassing change readiness, leadership and culture, legal frameworks and institutional setup, and networks and relationships, the assessment tool that was developed can guide water authority managers worldwide in developing processes to ensure uninterrupted service to their communities.