Title: Siaya County Water and Sanitation Project

Slogan: Water revenues as a driver for community development 

The purpose of this project is to significantly and structurally improve inclusive water and sanitation-related health, welfare, local economic growth, wellbeing and enhanced gender equality among 108,500 people in rural areas of Siaya County in Kenya by 2022 and to prove water scheme management model of ‘Public Ownership, Private Management’ (POPM).

Project key outcomes and outputs

1. Inclusive sustainable access to sufficient, clean and nearby water for 108.500 people by the end of 2020.
2. Publicly Owned Privately Managed water schemes are well functioning and sustainable by the end of 2020.
3. Scaling up within the project schemes and/or to new schemes in Siaya County by the end of 2022.
4. Other county governments and actors are informed and aware of the best practices and the PPP based model of this project by the end of 2022.
5. Sustaining  ODF communities (70% of schools and communities; 86.800 people) and improved sanitation at HH level (97.650 people, 90%) in communities served by the 7 water schemes, by the end of 2022.
6. The private sector, through 118 (female) entrepreneurs offering demanded sanitation and hygiene products by the end of 2020.
7. Improved gender equality at community and household level in communities served by the 7 water schemes, by the end of 2022.

Rural water schemes in Siaya are typically managed by community water committees. However, due to poor management structures, limited capacities, challenges with revenue collection and lack of accountability, many schemes are unsustainable. As a result, only 36% of the Siaya population uses improved sources of water. This project will address the above by adopting a “Public Ownership, Private management’’ (POPM) model through a Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) approach encompassing Dorcas, Maji Milele and the County Government of Siaya.

The objective of this project is to prove that this management model will lead to sustainable water supply, improved service levels and will turn water schemes currently not commercially viable into profitable schemes. Other distinguishing elements of this project include use of pre-paid meters (to improve revenue collection); use of loyalty points (Maji Osafi) to provide sanitation and hygiene products and creating open defecation free zones through the use of Community-Led Total Sanitation approach. Additionally, the project will promote gender equality (through increasing opportunities for women to participate in leadership, decision-making and entrepreneurship ventures) as well as inclusiveness of the poor and vulnerable through the provision of free water and community safety nets.

In order to achieve project outputs and outcomes, this PPP will be defined through a Service Provision Agreement with time-bound Key Performance Indicators, Cooperation Agreement and Partnership Agreement. The 3 main partners will form a Project Management Committee responsible for oversight and supervision. At the community level, the PPP will link with water Scheme Supervisory Boards (SSBs) that represent the respective communities. This project will enable 108,500 people to have access to clean water and sanitation, including gender equality. It is envisioned that this model will be scaled up in Siaya as well as other counties and has the potential to attract external financing. The project commenced on 1-7-2017 and is expected to close on 30-12-2022.