Kenya Resilient Arid Lands Partnership for Integrated Development+ (RAPID+)

February 7, 2023

November 2021 – October 2026

Quick Facts

Investment: Total budget of $15,365,230 USD from November 2021 through October 2026 (5 years), convened and led by the Millennium Water Alliance with primary funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) alongside match and investment funds from private sector actors, implementing partners and participating county governments.

People Served: RAPID+ will provide first-time or improved access to water and rangeland services for more than 200,000 people in Garissa, Isiolo, Marsabit, Turkana, and Wajir counties.

Goal and Outcomes: Improved access to safe and sustainably managed water and rangelands in RAPID+ counties will contribute to resilient livelihoods for communities in a peaceful environment:

Pastoralist communities will have increased access to sustainable and safe water for multiple uses.
Pastoralist communities will have improved access to safe and ecologically healthy rangeland resources that promote greater integrity, social cohesion, and gender equity.

Transition from RAPID (2016-2021) to RAPID+ (2021-2026):

From 2016 to 2021, The Millennium Water Alliance-led and SDC and USAID supported RAPID program deployed USD $31 million to improve or bring first-time access to better water, sanitation, and hygiene to 650,226 people. RAPID brought together public, private, and civil society institutions and communities to increase access to water and sanitation for people and water for livestock, and to take steps to restore a healthy rangeland management. The 21- partner program combined the skills and experience of local and international nongovernmental organizations and private and public institutions. The overarching goal of RAPID was to ensure sustainable and resilient livelihoods for communities in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) of northern Kenya using a model that can be adapted for use by other counties.

Building on the successes and learnings of RAPID, the next iteration is RAPID+. RAPID+ is designed to address two core problems and the complex interactions amid changing climate conditions: insufficient access to adequate and sustainable water for multiple uses and declining rangeland resources.

RAPID+ also aims to improve efficiency in the operations and maintenance of water infrastructure; increase the capacities of governments and communities to manage water resources and services; strengthen the institutions for rangeland management; encourage opportunities for the private sector; target the use of innovative technology where it is appropriate and sustainable; and reduce the disparities of gender in access to and control of water resources.

Focal role of the Kenya Government in RAPID+:

An important innovative approach from RAPID will be central in RAPID+ from the very beginning: county governments will lead and own the design and program implementation processes, with leadership by a Program Steering Committee composed of representatives from the national and county governments.

RAPID+ was designed in 2021 in a collaborative process led by the Millennium Water Alliance in consultation with the Government of Kenya and the five county governments; the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the main donor; implementing member NGOs; and a number of private sector companies and other county stakeholders.