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TitleSustainable livelihood security for vulnerable household in seven districts of Nyanza province (dak achana) program : water, sanitation and education for health (waseh) project : final documentation october 2003- september 2009
Publication TypeMiscellaneous
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsNairobi, KECARE-
Pagination19 p.; 1 fig.; 4 tab.
Date Published2010-01-01
PublisherCARE Kenya
Place PublishedS.l.
Keywordsaccess to sanitation, access to water, child health, children, diarrhoeal diseases, drinking water, education, health, health aspects, health education, health hazards, health impact, kenya, kenya nyanza province
Abstract

This report highlights all the aspects of programming of WASEH II project implemented from 2004 to 2009. WASEH II project is one of the five components of Dak Achana program. Other components are; the improved agriculture for small holders in western Kenya (TASK), community savings mobilization (COSAMO), Food For Work(FFW ) and HIV/LIFE project. The project covered six districts; Rachuonyo, Homabay, Nyando, Suba, Migori and Bondo of Nyanza province in
western Kenya. The project was designed after a successful implementation of WASEH I from1999 to 2003. Implementation started in two districts of Rachuonyo and Nyando for two years and later spread to other four districts WASEH in full means water, sanitation and education for health. The project was implemented from 2004 to March 2009. The program was designed for Nyanza province. This is because the region is semi arid and subject to severe drought. Most people obtain their drinking water from Lake Victoria, seasonal rivers, streams, and hand dug wells, sources which are all contaminated
in one way or another. Women and children walked up to long distances each day to haul water, a task that took up to three hours. The incidences of diarrhea among children under five in this area was particularly high. Latrine coverage was estimated at below 30 percent. Only 50 percent of households in Homabay and 18 percent in Kuria had proper sanitary facilities. In Nyando district, heavy flooding further compounds the problem. High water table and floods make pit latrines a health hazard rather than a solution. Hygiene education was virtually non-existent. 60 percent of the population in rural Nyanza lacked safe drinking water and subsequently 47 percent less than five years old experience diarrhea. The project was targeting 12,896 individuals as direct beneficiaries. WASEH addresses Dak Achana Strategic Objective (S02) of Sustainable improvement in the health security of vulnerable target population in six districts of Nyanza province. This was to be achieved by addressing the following intermediate results: improved capacity of local organizations to establish and sustainably manage water and sanitation facilities: improved household access and utilization of potable water; increased access and use of safe water system (SWS) products by target households; increased sanitation coverage, utilization and adoption of appropriate environmental and domestic hygiene practices. This time the implementation of WASEH II is based on demand driven approach (DDA) by partnering with interested community based organizations or groups. A total of 160 groups were enrolled and signed an implementation agreement called partnership agreement detailing the role of each partner in the project. Each cluster of about 10 CBOs was being coordinated by a Central Management Committee. The project was implemented by building the capacity of the local institutions, sanitation infrastructure, water infrastructure development, safe water system intervention and hygiene promotion in community and schools. Monitoring and evaluation activities were timely done with baseline survey followed by mid term evaluation. KAP surveys were conducted annually to assess behavior change especially on hygiene practices. Periodic site visits and assessments were conducted by project staffs and M&E department and results communicated to the project for improvement. Final evaluation was eventually done in November 2008 to check on the impact. The project has fully achieved it objectives. There are 160 functional community groups, 16 CMCs, 2510 households accessing safe drinking water, 49% of targeted households adopting safe water system (KAP survey 2007), 723 tanks installed, 1460 household latrines constructed and 490 GHPs trained. WASEH had to collaborate and network with other partners in view to attain more impact to the targeted communities. The main collaborators were the private sector- plastic tank supplies (politick and kentainers’), borehole drillers (hydro-water well and drilling services and spares), GOK line ministries particularly water, health, education, culture and social services, and
provincial administration. Among the NGOS, PLAN was the main collaborator. Areas of collaboration included technical assistance and consultancy services Some of the challenges during the implementation were, cholera outbreak in areas adjacent to project sites, challenges in maintenance of ferro cement tanks by community, occurrence of dry boreholes in some areas and the slow pace of resource mobilization by communities delayed implementation of water infrastructure development. However, there were also important lessons learned : partnership with the private sector yields additional benefits to program implementation. Open tender competition for water borehole drilling firms made CARE reduced costs for borehole drilling and purchase of plastic tanks. The discounts earned were ploughed back into buying additional water storage tanks for the project direct participants. Switch from construction of Ferro cement tanks to purchase of already made plastic tanks enhanced project implementation efficiency and effectiveness. The management of the water boreholes should be privatized for effective and efficient provision of water both as social and economic good. [authors abstract]

Custom 1303, 203.2
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