Community Water and Sanitation
Background
Access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation has traditionally been out of the reach of a large proportion of the inhabitants of Western Kenya: around 60-70% in the poorest rural areas and 40% in informal urban settlements. In addition, the region is home to high levels of poverty.
Aims and objectives
Africa Now responds to this need in Western Kenya, aiming to improve people's lives through expanding access to basic water and sanitation facilities. This project ensures that it offers sustainable returns in a way that maximises the benefit to local people.
Operating in the rural and informal settlements of Bondo, Siaya, Kisumu and Vihiga districts, Africa Now's current objectives are:
- To improve access to water and sanitation facilities for 100, 000 people.
- To increase health and hygiene education in schools, benefiting 75,000 pupils.
- To develop the capacity of communities to ensure good governance of water and sanitation systems.
- To develop income-generating opportunities for disadvantaged communities by creating 400 new jobs and encouraging local artisans to provide construction services.
Activities
These objectives are being realised through helping to set up viable local businesses, which can provide locally appropriate water technologies. In addition, the project is facilitating education and training for teachers, pupils and local health workers.
Supporting local enterprise
Some of the activities of the local businesses that have been set up include:
- Building rope and washer pumps.
- Constructing shallow wells.
- Selling water from kiosks.
- Setting up above-the-ground rainwater collection tanks.
These technologies are cheap, easy to learn and can help create a sustainable industry for local artisans who can continue to provide and repair the water and sanitation services.
Education and training
Through training teachers, a number of Child-to-Child health clubs have been established, which see children spreading what they learn about water safety and hygiene to friends and family.
In addition, Africa Now continues to train Community Health Workers who can go into communities and reinforce local understanding about water and sanitation hygiene.
Case Study: Pumping income into the future
Nicholas Olwande, like many skilled workers in Western Kenya, was struggling to feed his family and send his children to school. His skills in welding and sanitation construction were not in demand and it was hard to find work. Africa Now showed Nicholas how to use his skills to make water pumps. These water pumps use easily available materials, such as an old tyre, a rope and a bike chain, and are simple to maintain and far cheaper than other pumps on the market. Nicholas' profits have enabled him to plan for the future and send his children to school.
Project Update
This project was disrupted during the post-election violence of 2007/2008. However, the project has now recovered lost time and is achieving anticipated targets.
Highlights from 2008/2009 include:
- The project expanded in to 12 more schools in Nyanza Province with water and sanitation facilities.
- An Eco-San facility has been established which scientifically recycles human waste into usable compost, enabling households to increase their income from the sale of compost and an increase in crop production.
- An additional 80 youths were trained and entered the job market providing services to the construction sector.
- 2 water pans were constructed, serving 4200 people in Bondo District of Nyanza Province.
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