3 Takeaways from Creating a Digital Prototype to Improve Water Access

For many people in Canada, reliable access to clean water is something they take for granted. But what if you need a truck to bring you water and take away your sewage every day? And what if it didn’t always arrive? 

This is the reality for the residents of Kativik, a remote territory in Northern Quebec. Each building has a water tank that must be filled and a sewage tank that must be emptied by service trucks daily. It’s an imperfect system, with residents often having to call or radio to get service. 

Since late 2023, Code for Canada has been working with the Kativik Regional Government (KRG) to develop a digital tool to improve water and sewage delivery for the community.

After years of research and development, we’re now piloting a digital prototype with the community — an app called Kiujuk, which acts as an automated service truck dispatching system.

During this exciting time, we wanted to share some of the challenges we’ve faced and some of the unique solutions we’ve found while doing this work.

Last month, Code for Canada CEO Dorothy Eng and KRG Director Hossein Shafeghati sat down at the FWD50 conference to discuss actionable takeaways for government leaders looking to deliver better digital services under tight constraints. 

We’ve shared those challenges and solutions below. But first, let’s start by learning more about the initial problem KRG was facing. 

The challenge: A difficult water and sewage delivery system

When Hossein first came to Code for Canada for help, KRG was facing several challenges with its water and sewage delivery:

• Residents didn’t always know when their water would arrive or when their sewage would be collected
• Driving operations were overstretched, juggling delivery routes and service requests
• Government leaders didn’t have the data they needed to plan, budget and advocate for more resources

With this in mind, our team travelled to the village of Kuujjuaq to conduct user research. They learned about the problems different groups were facing and considered different possible solutions. In the end, they created a digital prototype called the Kiujuk app.

The app aims to:

• Collect water and sewage requests all in one place — Residents can call, text, or send their requests on Facebook and get confirmation it’s been received
• Help truck operations organize and complete routes efficiently — All service requests go to one place. Daily routes are assigned efficiently and fairly
• Collect service data for evidence-based decision-making — Service data is collected in a database for government leaders to use in their planning

The app is currently being piloted with drivers and residents, with hopes for a full rollout in the coming months.

In their conversation at FWD50, Dorothy and Hossein discussed three actionable strategies they used to reach this milestone.

1. Map interested parties and find ways to earn their trust

One of the first challenges to tackle was a complex system with multiple interested parties. In order to create a solution that worked for everyone, the Code for Canada team had to understand the needs of the residents using the service, the drivers and foremen delivering it, and the government officials in charge of its success.

For his part, Hossein had to get buy-in from government decision makers within and outside of KRG. “Identifying and politically mapping the power and influence of each interested party and then getting everybody involved and engaged … was the strategy that I think worked,” he said.

Dorothy shared that empathetic user research was key to Code for Canada building trust with different interested parties. She also added that being able to show the impact of user research is a powerful tool for building trust.

“Really taking those insights that people share and then quickly delivering value and responding to what they've shared is very important,” she said. “Producing something that they can respond to, whether it's a mockup of a prototype or an actual digital product.”

2. Break work down into smaller phases 

Another challenge was budget constraints. KRG had a very small annual budget to work with. To get around this, they created a series of small annual contracts for Code for Canada. 

“We have annual budget constraints, so we had to fit everything within that time frame,” shared Hossein. “So we focused on one step at a time, with annual contracts. We said, okay, we have this much money available this year. Let's get this much done. Then we'll see next year.”

By creating a series of small contracts, the Code for Canada team was able to naturally develop their prototype using agile and iterative methods.

“The way that we approach all of our work with our government partners is through an incremental and iterative approach,” said Dorothy. “We go out and we build a prototype, we get it in front of users, we get their feedback, and then we iterate based on that feedback. That's the cyclical process that leads to really great digital products and services.”

3. Always take a problem-driven approach

A final takeaway that Dorothy and Hossein shared was the importance of taking a problem-driven approach to improving public services. 

“Often I see that folks have a solution-driven approach, and that is really not going to produce the best results,” shared Hossein. “The worst thing is when you buy software out of the box from a big software company and you have so many features that you don’t need.”

Dorothy agreed, adding, “I think that when you work closely with and listen to the folks on the ground who know the problem, and use that as a starting point for documenting assumptions and building and prototyping and testing, that really is what will lead you to the right solutions.”

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