A National Municipal Benchmarking Initiative (MBI) workshop was held on the 25th of October 2011 before the 75th IMESA Conference 2011, held at Birchwood, Johannesburg.  This MBI workshop was coordinated and organised by Emanti Management and the MBI project team with presentations given by leading benchmarking and municipal experts, highlighting typical challenges faced and common performance measurements utilized in both industry and the water sector.  The objectives of the workshop were to:

1. Convey the long term commitment of the project Sponsors (and key municipal partners) to Municipal Benchmarking; and thereby address concerns that the project is only set to run for 3 years.
2. Generate awareness, interest and enthusiasm from municipalities.
3. Introduce them to a process of consultation and iterative enhancement on Performance Indicators (PIs);
4. Get initial feedback on draft PIs as relates to two topics namely (i) Water Demand Management and (ii) Human Resources and Skills Development. 

Topics discussed included:

1. The Power of Benchmarking – Carl Loubser
2. Benchmarking Water Services in South Africa – Kathy Eales
3. Overview of Water Demand Management – Ronnie McKenize
4. WDM Case Study 1: Ethekwini Metro – Simon Scruton
5. WDM Case Study 2: Ilembe District Municipality – Notha Maphumulo
6. Overview of Human Resources and Skills Development – Adie Vienings
7. HR Case Study 1: Johannesburg Water – Jones Mnisi
8. HR Case Study 2: Stellenbosch Municipality – Brett Keyser

In addition to the two modules, the four other draft modules were also briefly introduced:

1. Service Delivery Backlog
2. Operations and Maintenance
3. Product Quality
4. Financial Performance

Approximately 100 persons participated in the workshop, with more than half of these participants being from Metro, District and Local Municipalities. Valuable feedback from the participants will be used to refine both the NBI approach and associated KPI’s.