KWAHO - Kenya Water for Health Organisation

Kwale, Kenya: Community management in action

The Kwale District Water Supply and Sanitation Project in the southern coastal area of rural Kenya began with Sida support in 1983, originally to test Village Level Operations and Maintenance (VLOM) handpumps while providing 25,000 people with services. It quickly became clear that a special effort would be needed to develop pump O & M systems in partnership with local communities.

UNDP therefore decided to offer the services of its program for the Promotion of the role of Women in Water and Environmental Sanitation Services (PROWWESS) to support the involvement of a Kenyan NGO, the Kenyan Water and Health Organisation (KWAHO). The involvement of local women was seen as key since their participation would be decisive in whether services were valued and used. KWAHO trained five women as extension workers and led community organization activity based on PROWWESS participatory methodologies. Around 30 local women were trained as handpump caretakers.

The project was rapidly expanded to the rest of Kwale District. Things did not always go smoothly. But in time, a ground-breaking system of community organization was in place, -- 125 Water committees were established; all selected women as treasurers, and all collected water levies. By 1988, 70% had opened bank accounts. Pumps were functioning and being routinely mended with the use of the funds.
Kwale proved that community management of water supplies did work, especially where women were involved. It also showed that a lot of time and effort was needed to develop such a system, and that an NGO might be the most appropriate medium for fulfilling this part of the VLOM concept.

from: 1978 - 1998: Learning What Works - A 20 Year Retrospective View on International Water and Sanitation Cooperation by Maggie Black, UNDP-World Bank Water and Sanitation Program, Washington, September 1998, page 19.
http://www.wsp.org/publications/global_lww.pdf