Reprieve for rural women as Maendelo ya Wanawake launches water project
Maendeleo ya Wanawake Chairperson Rahab Mwikali Muiu during a past interview at the organisation's offices at Maendeleo House, Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- Rural women in Kenya have a reason to smile after Maendeleo ya Wanawake launched the National Harvesting Water Project.
- The project, once fully implemented, will ensure households at the grassroots receive a 10,000-litre water tank each to harvest rain water for domestic use.
- The project was launched in Kajiado, Homa Bay and Kakamega counties and will later be rolled out to all the 47 counties.
Rural women in Kenya have a reason to smile after Maendeleo ya Wanawake (MYWO) launched the National Harvesting Water Project.
Speaking during the virtual launch held earlier in the month, MYWO chairperson Rahab Muiu said the project, once fully implemented, will ensure households at the grassroots receive a 10,000 litres water tank to harvest rain water for domestic use.
The project was launched in Kajiado, Homa Bay and Kakamega counties and will later be rolled out to all the 47 counties.
Ms Muiu said that within Nairobi, the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) has, for example, helped reduce the cost of running households in Nairobi.
“Every household uses 80 litres of water daily amounting to Sh200 but NMS is now providing the water for free,” said Ms Muiu.
In 2006, only 57 per cent of Kenya’s 36.6 million people had access to improved drinking water.
According to Water.Org, with a population of 50 million, 32 per cent of Kenyans rely on unimproved water sources, such as ponds, shallow wells and rivers, while 48 per cent of Kenyans lack access to basic sanitation solutions.
These challenges are especially evident in rural areas and urban slums where people are often unable to connect to piped water infrastructure. In rural Kenya, the average total coping costs for an unreliable or distant water supply are approximately $38(Sh3800) per month.
Frontline role
In comparison, the average water bill of a typical household in Nairobi that is connected to a piped system is only $4.46(Sh4,400) a month.
President Uhuru Kenyatta who officially launched the project commended MYWO for its frontline role in fighting for women’s rights in Kenya.
The president noted the organisation has grown to become a bastion of civil society, championing initiatives that have tremendously changed women’s lives for better, especially at the grassroots level.
“I believe the lives of women in Kenya and the communities they believe in are, currently immeasurably better thanks to the Maendeleo ya Wanawake’s bold and consistent actions over the decades,” said the President.
Public Service and Gender Cabinet Secretary Professor Margaret Kobia said MYWO has actively participated in national development programs through the National and County Government Gender Sector Working Group framework.
The framework, the CS noted, enables the organisation to collaborate with other government agencies to create synergy for development as well as providing an effective model for improving quality of life for families and communities.
MYWO is a national membership Non-Governmental Organisation established in 1952 to empower women socially, economically and politically to enable them deal with unique challenges that face them in society.
