SASAWA-TCCF-MWA project description
The Millennium Water Alliance’s (MWA) Sustainable Access to Safe Water (SASaWa) initiative, a name derived from a slight modification of the initial acronym SASW meaning “to make perfect or good,” represents a targeted, strategic intervention designed to enhance water resilience and sustainability across Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). Funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation, SASaWa is an expansive program poised to transform water security in some of the most vulnerable regions of Northern Kenya. This initiative aims to address the myriad challenges of water scarcity, climate variability, and socio-economic instability, to help improve the conditions and quality of life for local communities.
Program Pillars and Strategic Objectives: SASaWa is structured around three core pillars that guide its comprehensive strategy to improve water access and management:
- Water Innovation: Focuses on introducing and scaling innovative, financially viable WASH solutions to ensure safe water reaches the most vulnerable communities in urban, peri-urban, and rural settings.
- WASH Systems Strengthening: Enhances the capacity and resilience of the entire WASH ecosystem, empowering local municipalities, utilities, NGOs, and other water service providers to deliver high-quality, reliable, and affordable services.
- Catalytic Infrastructure Investments: Supports critical infrastructure development through risk mitigation, technical assistance, and project preparation, setting the stage for significant investments from various sectors.
Contextual Challenges: The regions targeted by SASaWa face severe physical and economic water scarcity compounded by recurrent droughts, flooding, and the impacts of climate change. These challenges are exacerbated by systemic issues such as poor infrastructure, inadequate management, and limited access to sustainable funding solutions, making the need for comprehensive program interventions critical.
Building on Established Programs: SASaWa leverages the frameworks and successes of existing MWA initiatives, ensuring continuity, sustainability, and enhanced impact:
- RAPID+ Program: This initiative has established robust community engagement frameworks and partnerships with local governments and the private sector to improve water and rangeland management. SASaWa builds on these successes to expand community-driven water resource management practices and enhance infrastructural resilience.
- STAWI Mashinani Program: Focused on building the capacity of local organizations and enhancing governmental collaboration, STAWI provides a foundation for SASaWa to strengthen institutional and community capacities further, ensuring sustainable management and operation of water services.
- DRIP FUNDI Program: Integrates innovative financing mechanisms, such as carbon credit schemes, to maintain and expand borehole functionality. SASaWa adopts and scales these financing solutions to support its broader goals of enhancing the sustainability of water service delivery across the ASALs.
Detailed Strategic Activities: SASaWa’s approach encompasses a wide array of targeted activities designed to create sustainable improvements in water access and quality:
- Infrastructure Development: Implementing advanced water harvesting and storage solutions, such as solar-powered borehole systems, to increase water availability. This includes constructing and rehabilitating water kiosks, expanding distribution networks, and installing sustainable energy solutions to power water pumps.
- Quality Control and Safety Measures: Establishing water safety plans with service providers to monitor and enhance water quality along the entire supply chain, from source to consumer.
- Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening: Developing training programs for local water management institutions and community leaders to improve governance, operational efficiency, and financial management of water resources.
- Community Engagement and Education: Launching community awareness campaigns to promote water conservation practices, enhance stakeholder participation in water management, and improve local governance structures.
Expected Outcomes: SASaWa aims to improve access to water and the reliability of water services. The program is designed to reduce the burdens of water collection, particularly impacting women and children, and to decrease health risks associated with poor water quality.
The initiative is also structured for scalability and replicability, with robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks that will help guide ongoing adjustments and enhancements. Through strategic collaborations and a commitment to innovation, SASaWa aspires to serve as a model for similar interventions in other regions facing water scarcity challenges. The SASaWa initiative by MWA exemplifies a strategic, multi-faceted approach to addressing critical water issues in Kenya’s ASALs. By building on the solid foundations of established programs and focusing on innovative, sustainable solutions, SASaWa is poised to make a lasting impact on the region’s water security.
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