Public-private partnership linking water and sanitation provisions in Kenya

To achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6, access to water and sanitation for all, partnerships are crucial. FINISH Mondial (FM) and WaterWorX (WWX) have developed a strategic partnership to collaborate on water and sanitation initiatives to be launched in three pilot areas in East Africa: Nakuru and Homa Bay in Kenya and Mwanza in Tanzania.

Just two months after signing a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation and knowledge sharing for the development of the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sectors, FINISH Mondial and WaterWorX have joined forces first in Kenya to showcase how water and sanitation are undeniably interconnected and can be strengthened in tandem to ensure equity and sustainability of each side of the intervention.

The pilot in Nakuru aims to ensure coverage and access to improved water and sanitation services to over 36,000 people. This is about 12% of the total population in low-income areas in Nakuru according to WASREB ranking data (2018). The FINISH approach is based off of WASTE’s multi-stakeholder Diamond Model, which will be utilized in Nakuru and Homa Bay to establish sustainable linkages between the four key local stakeholders (communities, entrepreneurs, financiers and governments). The partnership aims to also identify new local financial providers to scale up financial inclusion modalities to make sanitation accessible to an increasingly wider group of people in the county.

FINISH Mondial is an international public-private partnership (PPP) programme spearheaded by WASTE, Amref Flying Doctors and Aqua for All and is supported by the Dutch government (DGIS), working to achieve large-scale sanitation services. FINISH Mondial started in India where it has been active since 2009 and has been replicated in Kenya since 2013. The success of these two programmes has been the foundation for the even further 4-country expansion in 2018. In 2019, FM celebrated the milestone of constructing over 1 million improved sanitation systems which has impacted more than 5 million people to date.

WaterWorX is a partnership of public water operators to increase access to sustainable water services for 10 million people between 2017-2030. WaterWorX is co-funded and jointly implemented by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 10 Dutch water operators and local water operators in Africa, Asia and South America.

The collaboration between FM and WWX continues to build sustainable water facilities for under-served communities, helping to achieve the targets of SDG 6 and in light of recent global disruptions, supports the global effort to tackle COVID-19 through improved WASH for all.