UNICEF: In Kenya, women take the lead in water provision and management
UNICEF reports on women taking responsibility for water provision and management in Kenya as part of a UNICEF and European Union -supported water and sanitation programme.

A Kenyan Woman Stands Up
Against Massive Dam Project
April 25, 2012
Ikal Angelei is helping lead a campaign to stop construction of a major dam in Ethiopia that threatens the water supply and way of life of tens of thousands of indigenous people. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, she explains what she believes is at stake in the fight against the Gibe III dam.
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Total renewable water resources
30.2 cu km (1990)

Freshwater withdrawal
Total: 1.58 cu km/yr
Per capita: 46 cu m/yr (2000)

Domestic : 30 %
Industrial : 6 %
Agricultural : 64 %

Drinking water source
improved:
urban: 83% of population
rural: 52% of population
total: 59% of population

Unimproved:
urban: 17% of population
rural: 48% of population
total: 41% of population (2008)

Source : https://www.cia.gov
Please view the source for updated information

Friends of Lake Turkana (FoLT) : Defending the Resource Rights of Lake Turkana Communities
FoLT is advancing the natural resource rights of Lake Turkana communities through national and international advocacy to prevent construction of the Gibe III dam.

ActionAid in Kenya
Malindi
Availing clean portable water at reduced distance has been one of the main priorities of the LRP. At its inception, the existing water points were temporary and dried up due to continued failure of rain. Women had to walk long distances (about 8km one way) in search of the commodity, opening opportunity for abuse and exploitation by men enroute to water points.

Usigu
Usigu Water Project – this is a piped water project that draws water from Lake Victoria and distributes to strategic points in the division. Pi En Ngima (Water is Life) Women’s Association (PENWA) that is made up of 215 women groups operate and manage the project. The first phase has successfully been completed and mobilization of resources is underway to complete the remaining 3 phases.

UnHabitat in Kenya
Water and Sanitation
The highest priority for UN-HABITAT's Water and Sanitation programme is improving access to safe water and helping provide adequate sanitation to millions of low-income urban dwellers and measuring that impact. World leaders meeting at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 committed themselves to attaining the Millennium Development Goal 7, target 10 which aims to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. In 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg added another target: to halve by 2015, the proportion of people who do not have access to basic sanitation. Although the task is enormous, it is not insurmountable. Improving access to water and sanitation in low income urban settlements is possible.

In 2000, more than 830 million people in Asia Pacific region did not have access to safe drinking water. More than 2 billion lacked sanitation facilities. This problem is even worse in sub-Saharan Africa where in 2000, over 300 million people in Africa did not have access to safe water and over 500 million were without adequate sanitation. Additionally, low-income urban dwellers have to pay high prices for water sometimes up to 50 times the price paid by higher income groups. This problem has been worsened by a high rate of urbanization. Africa has been experiencing the world's most rapid rate of urbanization at nearly 5 per cent per annum.

UN-HABITAT's Water and Sanitation programme is funded by a Water and Sanitation Trust Fund. Its main focus is improving delivery of water and sanitation in African Asia through its regional programmes, Water for African Cities and Water for Asian Cities, and promoting policy dialogue, information exchange, water education and awareness raising. It also monitors progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal targets on improving access to safe water and sanitation and undertakes replicable model-setting initiatives, notably the Lake Victoria Region Water and Sanitation and Mekong Regional Water and Sanitation initiatives.

The main aim of the UN-HABITAT Water and Sanitation Programme is to contribute to the achievement of the internationally agreed goals related to water and sanitation in human settlements with particular focus on the urban poor, in order to facilitate equitable social, economic and environmental development.

The development objective is to support developing countries to achieve sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation for the poor in urban areas.

In 2005, the Results Based Management (RBM) framework of the programme document for the Trust Fund was reviewed and adjusted in consultation with the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit of UN-HABITAT.

The goals of the programme are to:

Include the human settlement dimension in the World Water Development Reports. Publish the Water and Sanitation in the World’s Cities reports and ensure that pro-poor and gender focused governance frameworks are available and in use.
Enhance awareness of water and sanitation issues and encourage the application of guide documents, norms, standards and toolkits by the water and sanitation sector and UN-HABITAT partners.
Form strategic partnerships among key water and sanitation stakeholders, these include the United Nations, development banks, donors, urban centres, utilities, non-governmental organizations, and communities to promote increasing levels of investment in UN-HABITAT programmes
Train water and sanitation sector stakeholders to enable them to develop, provide and manage improved water and sanitation services
Encourage water and sanitation institutions in participating countries to replicate local initiatives as a consequence of increased investment flows and with the involvement of local communities.
Work with water and sanitation institutions in participating countries to develop enhanced capacity to track progress towards internationally agreed targets based on improved information systems and enhanced monitoring frameworks.
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Water for African Cities

The Water for African Cities Programme aims to reduce the urban water crisis in African cities through efficient and effective water demand management, minimize the environmental impact of urbanization on freshwater resources and boost awareness and information exchange on water management and conservation. The programme is part of the wider efforts of the agency to meet the Millennium Development Goal targets of halving the number of people without access to safe water and sanitation by 2015, and promoting environmental sustainability. It also seeks to create an enabling environment for pro-poor investment.

The programme, initiated in December 1999, is a direct follow-up of the Cape Town declaration of 1997 adopted by African ministers to address the urgent need to employ better practices in the management of water resources in African cities. The programme is the first comprehensive initiative to support African countries to effectively manage the growing urban water crisis and protect the continent's threatened water resources and aquatic ecosystems from the increasing volume of land-based pollution from the cities.

Cities that participated in its first phase include Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Accra (Ghana), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Dakar (Senegal), Johannesburg (South Africa) Lusaka (Zambia) and Nairobi (Kenya). The first phase of the programme ended in December 2002.

One of the most notable successes of the first phase of the programme was the wide acceptance of water demand management as the cheapest form of augmenting supply at both utility and national policy-making levels. The implementation of a catchment management strategy also provided a unique platform to bring together diverse stakeholders from the urban water and environment sectors and community groups into action-planning, monitoring and implementation of local environment management of water resources.

During the first phase, a comprehensive strategy for public awareness which focused not only on achieving short term results through public awareness campaigns, but also longer term approaches through water education targeting school children and youth was developed.

The second phase of the Water for African Cities Programme was launched by African Ministers of the African Ministerial Conference on Water (AMCOW) at the Pan African Implementation and Partnership Conference on Water in December 2003.

African Conservation Trust in Kenya
MKUZE RIVER CONSERVATION PROJECT
Somkhanda Game Reserve is a 16,000ha community-owned reserve in northern KZN and the Mkuze River forms part of its southern boundary. The southern portion of the park has been stocked with a variety of species including white rhino and black rhino and the reserve comprises of two endangered vegetation types. It is also one of the few regions where the endangered Lebombo Cycad and the critically endangered Natal Cycad can be found.

Because local communities in the south rely on the Mkuze River for their water, the entire river has been fenced out of the reserve. However, it flows through steep walled banks and sheer ravines, where little human habitation is possible and access is via dangerously steep footpaths.

This project is investigating and developing an environmentally, socially and economically beneficial plan to incorporate the Mkuze River into the protected area of Somkhanda. At the same time it wants to provide a more accessible water supply to affected communities.

A number of positive outcomes include:
Improved water supply and water quality for communities adjacent to the river system
Increased size of area under conservation
Protection of vulnerable riverine landscape including endangered plant species
Improved opportunities to attract eco-tourism and provision of income generation & jobs for community members
Reduction in poaching of rhino and other vulnerable species
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