MUWSA is a Government Agency offering water and sewerage services to the Moshi Municipality with a population of about 144,000 people. Like most UWSAs in Tanzania, MUWSA is an outcome of implementation of the National Water Policy of 1991, which promulgated a flexible, autonomous and self-financing water supply and sewerage regime.

This Policy proposed an appropriate institutional framework that would ensure establishment of decentralised autonomous entities for the management of water supply and sewerage services in all urban centres. As a result of this policy, and following a number of studies on the financing and management of operations and maintenance of urban water supply and sewerage services in Tanzania, UWSDs were established in 19 regional towns, including Moshi.

These UWSDs were formed in 1994, as semi-autonomous departments under advisory boards namely UWSB’s. In 1998 the UWSDs were transformed into UWSAs as autonomous entities with full operational, managerial and financial powers in accordance with Act No. 8 of 1997 [Ministry of Water: 1997]

History
MUWSA was established in 1994, first as a semi autonomous department, supervised by an Advisory Board. In 1995, prior to the establishment of MUWSA as a commercial oriented entity, there was a study for the three Urban Water and Sewerage Departments of Moshi, Arusha and Tanga. This study highlighted the situation on problems encountered at the beginning of a transformation process from government departments to commercially self-reliant agencies and advised on water management aspects. This study was followed in 1996, by a strategic planning study, which advised creation of “commercial-oriented entities”. Subsequently, in 1998 MUWSA became a fully autonomous authority with a full Board of Directors, replacing an Advisory Board of the UWSA department. MUWSA, with other six authorities namely Arusha, Tanga, Morogoro, Mbeya, Mwanza and Dodomais in category A of a fully autonomous commercial entity with no Government support, except on capital investment. .
    
Strategic Plan
i. Vision
The strategic planning meeting attempted to look five [5] years out to envision how MUWSA operations should be structured and resources allocated to meet the growing desire to improve service delivery in Moshi. MUWSA’s vision is:  To be the best water and sewerage utility in Tanzania

ii. Mission
This strategic plan was commissioned specifically to determine the role of MUWSA in water and sewerage services in Moshi. The strategic planning exercise attempted to look at the entire scope of MUWSA in formulating a unified mission for improving service delivery. With this context, MUWSA mission is the:
Provision of adequate, sustainable and competitive water and sewerage services to support life, social, economic development and environment in Moshi, the town of Mt. Kilimanjaro

iii. Core Values
On behalf of our customers and all stakeholders of water and sewerage services in Moshi, MUWSA shall promote:-

• Respect – We hold each other in high regard for our dedication, expertise, creativity and teamwork
• Trust – We work to earn the confidence of our stakeholders so that they can rely on our integrity, ability and judgement
• Efficiency – We work timely to deliver quality services to clients without prejudice
• Customer focus – We work to ensure that our customers are retained and their expectation met. “Mteja ni Mfalme” [Customer is King/Queen]
• Commitment – We work in all official hours and ready and willing to be called in duty at all time in respect of this precious resource. “Maji ni Uhai” [Water is Life]
• Professionalism – We ensure a human resource base ready to demonstrate a high level of creativity and innovation

iv. Key Result Areas
As a result of a BEM and SWOT analysis, three [3] KRAs were identified as being crucial in the realisation of MUWSA’s vision and mission.

The first key results area puts emphasis on the improvement of water and sewerage service delivery with a focus on customers’ satisfaction, environmental conservation and services level in terms of area and population served, while the second focuses on strengthening the human resource as a key aspect towards improved service delivery. The third key result area focuses on improving the overall performance of the organisation.  These KRAs are explained below and include strategies, objectives and service delivery targets as indicators towards the implementation of the plan.

MUWSA has earmarked key directions for the next five years which includes increase in water and sewerage service delivery in terms of quantity and quality to reach the level accepted by our customers, ensuring at all time an active participation of stakeholders as a key strategy for improving services, and strengthening of human resources to increase efficiency.

Other key directions considered are conservation of environment; in particular the water sources, sustaining the excellent financial management and performance attained in the past, support to the urban poor, marginalized groups and the community, and, support the beautification of this important town we live in.Respect to all people regardless of their economic powers, ethnic groups or gender, building trust to our stakeholders in particular customers and water users, maintaining efficiency in quality service delivery, meeting customer expectations, maintaining our commitment to work and improving the level of professionalism in terms of innovation and creativity are core values which MUWSA shall promote in due course of implementing this strategic plan.

MUWSA’s strategic plan if focusing at providing adequate, sustainable and affordable water and sewerage services as crucial elements to support life, social, economic development and environment for the future of present and next generation. We urge MUWSA stakeholders, residents of Moshi and our friends from all over the world to join hands with us in ensuring that this plan implemented.