Kenya

Members of the Kenya National WASH Coalition

NETWAS, AMREF, ITDG, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Education, Science and technology, UNICEF, UN-HABITAT.

Focus

The general objective of the Kenya WASH campain is to raise the profile of water, hygiene and sanitation for all and enable the voices of the people especially the poor to be heard. Specifically, the Kenya WASH coalition has addressed a large part of its efforts towards the issue of School Sanitation and Hygiene Education.

Milestone projects and main achievements

• Launch of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASCH) Week in Kenya under the theme School Sanitation for Disease Prevention (March 2006).
• Study and development of an impact monitoring and advocacy document “Voices of the Parents, Teachers and Pupils” (November 2005).
• Development of a child-focused Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation methodology, CHAST.

Links and Resources

• Voices of the Pupils, Teachers and Parents (August 2005)

• NETWAS International

• Report of the Kenya National WASH Fair and Workshop, 22-23 July 2008 - This report is about the Kenya National WASH Fair/Workshop which took place from 21st to 22nd July 2008 at the Nairobi Safari Club. This event was attended by stakeholders from various agencies mainly in Nairobi including government, NGOs, CBOs, the Private sector, among others. Originally, this event was meant to mark the launching of the International Year of Sanitation in Kenya, but this was later done without any event attached to it, pending finalisation of the country’s road map on the IYS implementation. The Organisers decided to use the forum as a mini-WASH Fair in readiness for the main National WASH Fair planned for end of 2008, once the National WASH Strategy and Road map for implementing the National Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene Policy is in place.

• Report of Rapid Assessment of Key Actors of Hygiene and Sanitation: Preparedness to meet the MDGs, July 2008 - The WASH Campaign in Kenya is coordinated by NETWAS International, Kenya. Hygiene and Environmental Sanitation at household and institutional level continue to be of key importance in Kenya. The Kenya Government recognises the importance of safe water and improved hygiene and sanitation towards the improvement of people’s health and development, which it is committed to attain by the year 2015. It has set a number of initiatives as enshrined in the major reform activities including policies on water as well as on hygiene and environmental sanitation. Some of the major strategies adopted nationally include promotion of hygiene and sanitation using “Community Led Total Sanitation” (CLTS); advocacy to raise the awareness of policy makers in increasing budget allocations, partnership building; among others. Kenya now boasts of an Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion Policy which was signed in June 2007 and was launched in October 2007. In this policy, the government commits itself to ensure that 90% of households will have access to sanitation by 2015, rather ambitious but doable.