In November 2018, the CATS Programme launched a major intervention together with the Saint Lucian Water and Sewerage Company, Inc. (WASCO). The project on "Institutional and Organisational Strengthening of WASCO and Regional Water Utilities" will support WASCO in strengthening its internal managerial, organisational and technical capacity in order to effectively and efficiently reduce Non-Revenue-Water (NRW), i.e. physical and commercial loss of water. The consultancy is designed as a mission-based intervention that will be carried out from November 2018 to November 2019. During this time, various experts provided through a consortium of CONSULAQUA GmbH and Como Consult GmbH, both based in Hamburg, Germany, will be supporting WASCO with on-the-job training, hands-on experience and in-depth analysis of procedures in order to develop tailor-made recommendations on institutional and organisational improvements. The consultancy thereby focuses on four dimensions related to NRW:

• (A) Institutional and Organisational Strengthening
• (B) Network Management and Reduction of Non-Revenue-Water
• (C) Hydraulic Modelling
• (D) Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Asset Management

The intervention thereby not only focuses on WASCO Saint Luica. Throughout the period, water utilities from the region will have the opportunity to join activities, such as trainings or workshops. Furthermore, the international experts will, in collaboration with the Caribbean Water and Sewerage Association (CAWASA), support the development of a regional Center of Excellence that provides a platform to bring together utilities for exchange and vocational learning. The consultancy started off with a fact-finding mission from late November to early December 2018. As a crucial part of the mission, a workshop with both WASCOs management and senior staff took place to bring everybody on board and create the momentum required to successfully implement such an intervention. The workshop was perceived as very successful by all participants. It emphasized the understanding that the issue of non-revenue water can only be addressed jointly across all departments and in close collaboration with all stakeholders.