Collecting water at an improved water point installed by Practical Action in Turkana. The SWIFT partner constructed four new shallow wells in the last quarter of 2015 and equipped them with low-maintenance BluePumps
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Priscilla Ebukut, Chair of the Water Users Committee in Namoruputh, Turkana. Practical Action has been pleased to see many women taking up leadership roles as local groups are formed to manage new water points
A water kiosk installed by Practical Action at Namoruputh, Turkana. Practical Action trained eight water users’ associations in the last quarter of 2015, to equip them with the skills needed to take ownership of new water systems
In the arid county of Turkana in northern Kenya, SWIFT partner Practical Action has been busy both putting in place the infrastructure to provide access to clean, safe water, and training village committees to manage the new sources and ensure their sustainability.
In the last quarter of 2015, Practical Action constructed four new shallow wells in Turkana – at Kokuyono, Lokori, Kainuk and Lokapel – and equipped them with low-maintenance BluePumps. These wells are now collectively supplying clean, safe water to 1,600 people.
Practical Action has also trained eight water users’ associations, to equip them with the skills needed to take ownership of new water systems. The training sessions covered leadership skills, setting tariffs for water, and systems operation and maintenance, and were attended by an average of ten people per committee.
Leveraging resources from local authorities
The training sessions were conducted jointly with the Turkana County Government’s Ministry of Water. In common with other SWIFT partners, Practical Action is using the programme to leverage resources from local authorities and utility companies, in terms of both material and technical support, in order to enhance sustainability and encourage ownership of the programme’s activities.
Also as with other SWIFT partners, Practical Action has been pleased to see that as local groups have been formed to manage new water points, women are well represented among their members, and in many cases are taking up leadership roles. Water users’ associations are trained by Practical Action and run by committees whose members are elected by the local community. A 50-50 split between women and men is strongly encouraged.
Women have also taken the lead in promoting improvements in sanitation. In Kakimat village in Turkana Central, for example, women have undertaken the construction of hygienic pit latrines, between them building more than 50 family toilets in the village.
Latrine construction and the El Niño effect
A further 42 household latrines were constructed during the last quarter of 2015 in Turkana East and South through the Community-Led Total Sanitation approach, a process of mobilising communities to completely eliminate open defecation. Practical Action is implementing the approach in Turkana with the support of the County Government.
In most communities in Turkana, latrines are usually built by up to four households working together, which then share the toilet once it’s completed. This process was hindered in the last quarter of 2015 by forecasts of unusually heavy rains as a result of the ‘El Niño’ phenomenon. Some people deferred the digging of pits for latrines because of fears that they would be flooded, although in fact the rains were not significantly heavier than usual.
Community Health Volunteers trained by Practical Action continue to promote awareness around hygiene behaviour in Turkana, including through 17,686 house-to-house visits during the last quarter of 2015. The volunteers also held hand-washing demonstrations and ‘community clean-up’ days: events that take place once a month on a selected day and involve a collective clean-up of the whole village.
