Martha Momanyi Omambia
Director, Yes Youth Can! Project Western Kenya
Winrock International
Q1. Can you briefly describe your work in Kenya?
I am a community development worker, facilitator and mentor. Currently, I am working with Winrock International as the director for a USAID funded project known as Yes Youth Can! (YYC) in Western Kenya. The project supports the development of social capital (formation & development of village & county youth bunges) to increase youth participation and enable them raise their voices in communities’ social & economic spheres using the principle of youth-owned, youth-led and youth managed. Through the youth led program, four village level youth organizations are engaged in water and sanitation activities in partnership with Water and Sanitation Companies in the region. I am also a proponent of improved school sanitation with a focus on the rights of children to acceptable sanitation facilities, adequate water services and standard hygiene practices particularly in rural areas.
Q2: What are the biggest challenges in Kenya regarding water rights?
WaSH laws that give authority and power to specific institutions to manage water resources is a big challenge because community structures are weak, do not articulate rights and do not have resources to support infrastructure. Ownership is therefore an issue. At the same time, the growing pressure and intense competition on water resources has already led to conflicts between upstream and downstream users as well as between different categories of water users. It is anticipated that with climate change water use conflicts are likely to increase unless measures are taken to enhance proper management of the available water resources.
Q3: What are the biggest challenges in Kenya regarding sanitation rights?
Inadequate policy guidance on sanitation is one big challenge in Kenya. In addition, the emphasis in the governance of the water sector has tended to concentrate more on water supply with little attention on water resources management and sanitation.
Collecting reliable data on the Kenyan water and sanitation sector is difficult because reporting is often incomplete and different definitions are being used. Two sources of nation-wide representative information are censuses carried out every ten years, with the latest one carried out in August 2009, and Demographic and Health Surveys carried out every five years by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. The data thus collected are analysed by the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation of WHO and UNICEF to assess progress towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. These data only assess the availability of water and sanitation infrastructure. They do not assess whether water is safe to drink, sufficient in quantity, continuously available or affordable.
Q4: What is the Kenyan government doing to support water and sanitation development?
The Water Act (2002) introduced good provisions for enabling communities to participate in water resources management especially through the establishment of Water Resources User Associations (WRUAs). However, a key weakness is that these institutions depend on pro-activity by members of the public, and have tended to be used largely by professional persons and elites rather than members of the public per se[1]. In addition, the emphasis in the governance of the water sector has tended to concentrate more on water supply with little attention on water resources management and sanitation.
Q5: What is the health impact of unsafe water and sanitation upon the people in your region?
Water and sanitation are foundational in the health and wellbeing of communities. Kenya has made important strides in water provision but quality, affordability and sanitation services are lagging behind. We see very long queues in health facility for preventive diseases and infant and child mortality are areas where Kenya has not done well.
Q6: What specifically can NGOs do to help the situation in Kenya?
As development organizations, facilitators and mentors on various aspects of WaSH, NGOs have a role and a responsibility to contribute to the improvement of water and sanitation services without which hygiene is not possible and healthy lives are not sustained.
Q7: Can you describe the conditions in the rural areas of Kenya regarding water and sanitation?
It is estimated that Kenya has 19,500 million m3 of renewable surface water, which translates to approximately 650 m3 per capita, which is expected to drop to 250m3 per capita in 2025 when the population is projected to grow to 60 million. Groundwater resources in the country is estimated to be 619 million m3 or 14% of available national water resources.
Water supply and sanitation in Kenya is characterized by low levels of access, in particular in urban slums and in rural areas, as well as poor service quality in the form of intermittent water supply. Only 9 out of 55 water service providers in Kenya provide continuous water supply. Seasonal and regional water scarcity exacerbates the difficulty to improve water supply.
Q8: To what extent do water and sanitation problems impact children in your region and what are the common water-borne diseases?
Sanitation in urban slums and rural areas is basically pit latrines and the coverage and super structures in the community are below acceptable standards. As a result there are long queues in health facilities for preventative diseases that are water and sanitation related.
[1] Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Report for the Act! Natural Resources Facility for NSA, 2011-2015
Director, Yes Youth Can! Project Western Kenya
Winrock International
Q1. Can you briefly describe your work in Kenya?
I am a community development worker, facilitator and mentor. Currently, I am working with Winrock International as the director for a USAID funded project known as Yes Youth Can! (YYC) in Western Kenya. The project supports the development of social capital (formation & development of village & county youth bunges) to increase youth participation and enable them raise their voices in communities’ social & economic spheres using the principle of youth-owned, youth-led and youth managed. Through the youth led program, four village level youth organizations are engaged in water and sanitation activities in partnership with Water and Sanitation Companies in the region. I am also a proponent of improved school sanitation with a focus on the rights of children to acceptable sanitation facilities, adequate water services and standard hygiene practices particularly in rural areas.
Q2: What are the biggest challenges in Kenya regarding water rights?
WaSH laws that give authority and power to specific institutions to manage water resources is a big challenge because community structures are weak, do not articulate rights and do not have resources to support infrastructure. Ownership is therefore an issue. At the same time, the growing pressure and intense competition on water resources has already led to conflicts between upstream and downstream users as well as between different categories of water users. It is anticipated that with climate change water use conflicts are likely to increase unless measures are taken to enhance proper management of the available water resources.
Q3: What are the biggest challenges in Kenya regarding sanitation rights?
Inadequate policy guidance on sanitation is one big challenge in Kenya. In addition, the emphasis in the governance of the water sector has tended to concentrate more on water supply with little attention on water resources management and sanitation.
Collecting reliable data on the Kenyan water and sanitation sector is difficult because reporting is often incomplete and different definitions are being used. Two sources of nation-wide representative information are censuses carried out every ten years, with the latest one carried out in August 2009, and Demographic and Health Surveys carried out every five years by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. The data thus collected are analysed by the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation of WHO and UNICEF to assess progress towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. These data only assess the availability of water and sanitation infrastructure. They do not assess whether water is safe to drink, sufficient in quantity, continuously available or affordable.
Q4: What is the Kenyan government doing to support water and sanitation development?
The Water Act (2002) introduced good provisions for enabling communities to participate in water resources management especially through the establishment of Water Resources User Associations (WRUAs). However, a key weakness is that these institutions depend on pro-activity by members of the public, and have tended to be used largely by professional persons and elites rather than members of the public per se[1]. In addition, the emphasis in the governance of the water sector has tended to concentrate more on water supply with little attention on water resources management and sanitation.
Q5: What is the health impact of unsafe water and sanitation upon the people in your region?
Water and sanitation are foundational in the health and wellbeing of communities. Kenya has made important strides in water provision but quality, affordability and sanitation services are lagging behind. We see very long queues in health facility for preventive diseases and infant and child mortality are areas where Kenya has not done well.
Q6: What specifically can NGOs do to help the situation in Kenya?
As development organizations, facilitators and mentors on various aspects of WaSH, NGOs have a role and a responsibility to contribute to the improvement of water and sanitation services without which hygiene is not possible and healthy lives are not sustained.
Q7: Can you describe the conditions in the rural areas of Kenya regarding water and sanitation?
It is estimated that Kenya has 19,500 million m3 of renewable surface water, which translates to approximately 650 m3 per capita, which is expected to drop to 250m3 per capita in 2025 when the population is projected to grow to 60 million. Groundwater resources in the country is estimated to be 619 million m3 or 14% of available national water resources.
Water supply and sanitation in Kenya is characterized by low levels of access, in particular in urban slums and in rural areas, as well as poor service quality in the form of intermittent water supply. Only 9 out of 55 water service providers in Kenya provide continuous water supply. Seasonal and regional water scarcity exacerbates the difficulty to improve water supply.
Q8: To what extent do water and sanitation problems impact children in your region and what are the common water-borne diseases?
Sanitation in urban slums and rural areas is basically pit latrines and the coverage and super structures in the community are below acceptable standards. As a result there are long queues in health facilities for preventative diseases that are water and sanitation related.
[1] Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Report for the Act! Natural Resources Facility for NSA, 2011-2015
