On occasion of a dissemination seminar held in the context of the Waterbench project on "Water Utility Performance Benchmarking in Ukraine" Nicole Kranz spoke about selected benchmarking and performance indicator systems, best practice and experience from an international perspective. More than 20 participants representing utilities, municipalities, research institutions, government, administration and NGOs from all regions of Ukraine attended the seminar jointly organised with the Municipal Development Institute, Kiev and the State Committee on Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine.

Following further introductory presentations by representatives of OECD, the Institute of Urban Economics, Moscow and Service Public 2000, France on the current diffusion and application of performance indicators in the water sector of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus Region and Central Asia (EECCA), future implementation steps for Ukraine were addressed in a lively discussion. Of special interest were issues such as data collection and quality, the selection of appropriate performance indicators, as well as their increasing relevance for successfully communicating with consumers and other stakeholders, such as the international investment and financing sector.

Discussants also addressed the question of how benchmarking could be institutionalised on a national scale, attributing responsibility to the utilities and municipalities for data collection, but also emphasising the need for a national framework to be established by state authorities.