An unsettling issue among the Maasai community in Kenya’s Narok county is lack
of access to safe drinking water. Results from a survey we conducted showed
that 90% of the community depended on contaminated water sources with only
1% treating their water before drinking.
Like many rural communities in Kenya, lack of safe water together with poor hygiene and sanitation is a major challenge in Narok County, resulting to frequent outbreaks of water-borne diseases.
In 2018, ACK partnered with Africa Hope, a Non-Governmental Organization in Narok County (Kenya) with a commitment to improve communities’ livelihoods. Africa Hope had observed frequent cases of cholera and typhoid in the communities they were working. To change this picture, Africa Hope approached ACK to help.
Our intervention started by inviting Africa Hope staff to a Training of Trainer session where they were introduced to various WASH interventions. After the training, Africa Hope led by the Program Officer Eunice Punyua, recruited Community WASH Promoters (CWPs) from the targeted villages. We trained the CWPs and Africa Hope supported each one of them to form WASHiriki clubs. Each club has a membership of 20- 30 members who meet weekly to learn about WASH through a participatory approach that includes songs, drama and illustrations. In the clubs, they also designate an amount and save weekly to ensure that they all acquire necessary WASH solutions, such as a water filter.
‘Previously, you would go to a household and find half of the family is suffering from diarrhea. But things have changed now because many families have a water filter.”
Miriam Loonkusha, CWP
“These clubs have really helped our families,” says Miriam Loonkusha, a Community WASH Promoter (CWP). ‘Previously, you would go to a household and find half of the family is suffering from diarrhoea. But things have changed now because many families have a water filter.”
Saving money as a group has enhanced quick uptake of the water filters. So far, over 140
CWPs have been trained and more than 350 water filters distributed in Narok, impacting
over 13,000 people.