Nairobi, Kenya, 17 February 2016 – Leaders of 14 government agencies, private companies, and nonprofits today launched an ambitious five-year program to bring better access to safe water and sanitation to five northern counties.
Funded by a range of partners, including the United States Agency for International Development, (USAID) and the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC), the program, called the Kenya Resilient Arid Lands Partnership for Integrated Development (Kenya-RAPID), will increase WASH coverage from the current average of 37% of the population to more than 50% by 2020 in Garissa, Isiolo, Marsabit, Turkana, and Wajir.
Leaders of the program were joined at a special event at the Safari Park Hotel by His Excellency Mwai Kibaki, the Third President of Kenya, who was also named last year as the United Nations Special Envoy for Water. The Third President also serves as the Patron of the Millennium Water Alliance Kenya (MWA-K), a consortium of nonprofit organizations working with the Government of Kenya and county governments to achieve full WASH coverage in the country by the year 2030