Over 20,000 residents of Kisumu County will access clean water and sanitation through the 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 and sanitation services in Nyalenda.
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 with a total cost of ksh.8.8 million.
“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.
Over 60 per cent of Kisumu’s residents are low-income tenants in the expanding informal settlements and over half of these lack access to toilets. 83 per cent lack access to clean water despite Kisumu being the fastest growing and the third-largest city in Kenya.
“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 organizations working to improve sanitation in the city”, said Mathew Okello, Lake Basin Program Lead Practical Action.
For three 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 km 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.
By Christabel Airo
