Water Governance in Kenya

About the House

The house is a response to pertinent and growing water challenges in Kenya. The Water governance house research is implemented in Kenya.

The overarching objective of the Water Governance House is to ensure research-informed policy uptake and sustainability in water governance systems. The house spearheads strategic multi-sector collaborations to streamline, strengthen and institutionalize quality and equitable services in water delivery. The house envisaged that improved water governance will accelerate the achievement of SDG 6: Sustainable water and sanitation for all. The house pathway impact is anchored on the following work streams:

  • Systematic mapping of existing knowledge and evidence on water needs and patterns of use
  • Designing high impact collaborative and community-led scientific inquiry and learning strategies to informing existing research-policy gaps
  • Providing safe engagement spaces and platforms for research findings dissemination, outreach and policy advocacy

Policy Issue

The overall goal of the house is to promote access to water and sanitation by all and review key issues that affect the citizens in from access to water.  The house is guided by the following specific objectives;

  • To promote and strengthen mechanism for WASH related policy formulation, implementation and monitoring in WASH/WRM sector 
  • To improve WASH service delivery for women, girls, and the potentially disadvantaged groups and communities through evidence gathering, synthesis and application in the sector
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Anchor Study (Primary Evidence Sources)

The House relies on evidence from study that has been conducted in Kenya in the informal settlements of Kibera slums and Mukuru kwa Njenga in the city of Nairobi. To achieve its objectives’, the house designed well thought out activities that entails a mixture of research, policy engagement actors’, breakfast meetings ,debates and exchanges, structured dialogues and media outreach, to address difficult development and policy issues and improve the lives of citizens living in the urban informal settlements of Nairobi. The water governance forums bring together various stakeholders on water issues to co-create and co-produce throughout the research cycle and uptake process.

Country of Focus

Kenya

Host Organisation

The Kenya Water and Sanitation Civil Society Network (KEWASNET) – Kenya

Media Resources

News articles

Sex for Water: What price are women and girls paying? – BBC News

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House Convening/ Activities:

Other than the creation of the Water Governance House for evidence through research and policy analysis, the house periodically organizes convening and forums where researchers and policy makers get to interact and engage in knowledge sharing on policy gaps, best practices and desired changes. Since its launch the House has held the following activities:

  1. Held a second water governance forum focusing on PRFs and PI to share emerging programme evidence with house members and obtain their inputs, start policy conversations on the sex for water project findings and finally to refine the house focus with research evidence on water governance themes
  2. Held a 1st high level breakfast meeting to validate the policy brief on sextortion that was developed from sex for water research report
  3. 1st public policy debate focusing on sextortion to allow for public participation and include public voices on the policy briefs

Videos