County Government Of Kisumu, Practical Action And M-PESA Foundation Launch Water, Sanitation And Hygiene Interventions

Over 20,000 residents of Kisumu County will access clean water and sanitation through a Last Mile Connection project. The project is a partnership between the County Government of Kisumu, Practical Action and M-PESA Foundation to increase access to water & sanitation services in Nyalenda.

As part of the KES 8.8 million project, a community-based modern ablution block will be constructed to improve sanitation and 15 SMEs supported to locally produce hygiene products such as soap and sanitary towels.

“Through this project, we are looking to provide access to clean water to residents of Nyalenda at an affordable cost so that they can manage their water needs. We want to improve the sanitation of the community to prevent waterborne diseases and promote hygiene. We believe these residents have a right to a decent and reliable water supply,” said John Ohaga, Trustee, M-PESA Foundation.

Kisumu is the third largest and the fastest growing city in Kenya with an estimated population of 600,000 people. Over 60% of Kisumu’s residents are low-income tenants in the expanding informal settlements and over half of these lack access to toilets. 83% lack access to clean water.

“We welcome this partnership with the M-PESA Foundation and aim to implement this project as a model for accountable and sustainable water sanitation and hygiene service delivery for emulation by the County Government and other public benefit organisations working to improve sanitation in the city”, said Mathew Okello, Lake Basin Programme Lead Practical Action

Over the last 3 years, Practical Action has been working in partnership with Kisumu Water and Sanitation Company (KIWASCO) on improving access to safe and affordable water in informal settlements and increase accountability in the water sector. Over 10 kms of dilapidated water networks have been overhauled with new pipelines, increasing water volumes and reliability to almost 50,000 people in Nyalenda and Obunga informal settlements.