Legal Status

LuWSI is not, as of yet, a registered legal entity, but rather a voluntary partnership of 21 existing partners, bound together through an MoU which has been signed by the leadership of each organisation.

The organisational structure of LuWSI constitutes:

• Steering Board – LuWSI’s overall decision making body
• Technical Committees: Knowledge and Advocacy Committee, Resources and Membership Committee and Projects and Collaboration Committee
• The Secretariat – LuWSI’s administrative body
• Project Teams – implementing bodies for individual projects under LuWSI

LuWSI Partner Status

LuWSI is constituted of Core Partner and Project Partner organisations.

• Core Partners are those contributing resources to the development and operations of LuWSI (these partners can also be involved in projects). Each Core Partner Organisation has allocated a Lead Representative and an Operational Representative or so called “Focal Point”. All Core Partners are required to sign the MoU.
• Project Partners are those contributing resources only to specific projects under LuWSI. Project Partner representatives serve on relevant Project Teams. Project Partners are not required to sign this MoU because the projects they will be part of will be approved by the Steering Board. Public sector partners are covered by provisions of this MoU and do not need to enter into any other MoUs at project level.

Steering Board

LuWSI is governed by a 13 member Steering Board, which is elected by LuWSI’s Core partners at the LuWSI General Assembly bi-annually. LuWSI’s Steering Board’s purpose is twofold: first to help ensure LuWSI is successful in reaching its goals; second, to maintain a high-level overview of the threats and solutions to Lusaka’s water security. The Steering Board consists of:

• 13 members, including 4 from public, 3 from private sector , 2 from civil society and 3 from international organisations and 1 Community representative 
• Head of Secretariat sits on the Board with an Ex-Official Role i.e. non-voting
• Two LuWSI partner institutions who play a critical role in Lusaka’s water Security agenda namely, Lusaka Water supply and Sanitation Company (LWSC) and Lusaka City Council (LCC) are non elective Steering Board members, who cannot assume the position of Chair or Vice Chair of the Board.  

Steering Board Composition: 

Mr. Kelvin Chitumbo - Head of Secretariat  from NWASCO

Ms. Nachilala Nkombo - Chairperson from Worldwide Fund for Nature 

Ms. Pamela Chisanga – Vice Chairperson from WaterAid Zambia 

University of Zambia 

Lusaka Water supply and Sanitation Company

Lusaka City Council

Zambia Breweries 

GIZ 

Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor

Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA)

NGO WASH Forum 

Community Representative 

 

Committees

At its third meeting, held on 23^rd May 2017, the LuWSI Steering Board resolved to create committees to provide good strategic advice to the Board, support the achievement of results and in parallel, ensure the continued engagement of non-Board members on the platform. To this effect, committees allow an inclusive engagement and influencing mechanism for partners who may not be on the Board.

Knowledge and Advocacy Committee

• Provide strategic advice to the Steering Board on matters relating to LuWSI Function 1 (Assessing, Prioritising and Monitoring Water Security Threats and Solutions) and Function 2 (Creating Awareness, Education and Advocacy for Change).
• Ensure outcomes and outputs under LuWSI Functions 1 and 2 in the LuWSI Logframe are delivered in a timely and effective manner.

Projects and Collaboration Committee

• Provide strategic advice to the Steering Board on matters relating to LuWSI Functions 3 and 4 (i.e. Develop & implement projects; mobilise new actors & resources; Strengthen capacity for multi-stakeholder collaboration).
• Help ensure outcomes and outputs under LuWSI Functions 3 and 4 in the LuWSI Logframe are delivered in a timely and effective manner.

Resource and Membership Committee

• Provide strategic advice to the Steering Board on matters relating to LuWSI Functions 3 and 4 (i.e. Develop & implement projects; mobilise new actors & resources; Strengthen capacity for multi-stakeholder collaboration).
• Ensure LuWSI membership is growing and members are active
• Ensure resources are mobilised for operational activities and projects

Secretariat

The Secretariat provides the administrative and coordination function of LuWSI. It ensures effective and efficient processes and procedures and overall coordination between the Steering Board, Committees and Project Teams. The Secretariat will be appointed and monitored by the Steering Board, to which it is accountable.

On 30^th November 2016, the LuWSI Steering Board elected NWASCO to play to role of Host of LuWSI’s Secretariat, taking over from GIZ who initially incubated the partnership. The transition from GIZ to NWASCO took place over 2017, and now the Secretariat acts as a partially embedded implementation unit in NWASCO. In the longer term, the LuWSI Secretariat and the initiative as a whole will have their own legal identities as separate entities.

The Secretariat is directly governed by and accountable to the LuWSI Steering Board, and not the Board of NWASCO. 

Project Teams

Project Teams are constituted of different Project Partners and at least 2 Core Partners of LuWSI to implement specific projects under LuWSI. Project Partners only contribute to individual projects under LuWSI and not the overall development, operations or steering of LuWSI. Therefore, Project Partners do not have a right to sit on the Steering Board or be represented in the Focal Point Team.