By: Aminata Sesay
The Guma Valley Water Company (GVWC) is exploring ways to improve water supply and sanitation services in Sierra Leone through a benchmarking visit to Uganda, where a 17-member delegation is studying operational practices that could help address longstanding challenges in the sector.
The delegation, led by GVWC Managing Director Ing. Mariwan Kallon, is in Uganda from October 11 to 18, 2026, under the Freetown WASH and Aquatic Environment Revamping Project (WASHAERP). The visit focuses on learning from Uganda’s National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC).
The delegation comprises managerial and technical representatives from GVWC, the Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, Freetown City Council and the Western Area Rural District Council. Their participation reflects a coordinated effort to strengthen water supply and sanitation management in Sierra Leone.
Discussions and facility visits are focusing on ways to improve water production and treatment, manage distribution networks, maintain infrastructure and strengthen systems for measuring water consumption, collecting revenue and responding to customer complaints.
A major area of interest is the reduction of non-revenue water, which refers to water supplied into a distribution network but lost or not properly accounted for through billing. Reducing these losses can help water utilities maximize available resources, improve revenue collection and strengthen their financial sustainability.
The delegation is also examining approaches to providing water services to low-income communities, wastewater treatment and faecal sludge management. These areas broaden the scope of the visit beyond water supply to include sanitation and environmental health.
The benchmarking exercise comes as Sierra Leone continues efforts to improve access to reliable water and sanitation services. Although investment in infrastructure remains essential, effective service delivery also depends on proper maintenance, efficient resource management, sustainable revenue collection and responsiveness to consumers.
For GVWC, the lessons from Uganda could help identify practical measures to improve operational efficiency, reduce water losses and strengthen customer service. The involvement of government and local council representatives is also expected to encourage better coordination in planning and delivering water and sanitation services.
The visit forms part of WASHAERP’s institutional capacity-building efforts, which aim to complement infrastructure development with stronger technical, managerial and operational systems.
The programme recognizes that expanding infrastructure alone is not enough to ensure sustainable service delivery. Water sector institutions also need the skills, procedures and resources to maintain facilities and manage services effectively over time.
At the end of the visit, the delegation is expected to develop institutional action plans and prepare a comprehensive report documenting its findings and recommendations for possible implementation in Sierra Leone.
These outputs are expected to guide follow-up activities, identify operational gaps and help participating institutions determine which of Uganda’s water management practices could be adapted to Sierra Leone’s local conditions.
The success of the exercise will ultimately depend on how the lessons learned are translated into practical improvements in water supply and sanitation services.
For residents and businesses across the Western Area, the broader objective is to support a more reliable water supply, improved sanitation management and greater accountability among the institutions responsible for providing these essential services.
The visit therefore offers GVWC and its partners an opportunity to learn from Uganda’s experience and identify practical approaches to strengthening Sierra Leone’s water and sanitation sector.