Start Date: 2009-01-05

Completion Date: 2010-08-28

Technology Used:

GWAKO in collaboration with local consortium members (women groups and schools) will support the need for sustainable safe water and sanitation facilities by developing wellness programs in villages and schools within Greater Kano plains of Nyanza province. This a new project that proposed to scale up the provision of safe drinking water through a cost effective household water filtrations (Biosand water filtrations) and the roof rain catchments. The below task and activities shall take place;
1.PRA training for local community leaders and the members of the project implementation committee will be the FIRST STEP of the project intervention into the villages. The PRA training will enable them mobilize and organize the community, plan and implement the project activities themselves more efficiently and motivate the community for their assured and timely participation and contribution in the project. This will also help identify other areas of their priorities where the project needs to support them in subsequent years.
2. GWAKO Has made a detailed assessment of the villagers sanitations needs and interacted with the communities (women) to know their interest and commitments. Through this program GWAKO will work with communities to implement appropriate sanitation solutions.
3. The proposed project will The proposed project will Train community member on three technologies namely Installation of gutters, construction of Ferro cement Tanks and molding of Biosand Filters (BSF) as described below; .
GUTTER INSTALLATION; Community members stay in houses, made of grass thatched and iron sheets roofs. Some community members do have a feeling that roof water catchments can only been done on iron sheets roof. So the community members will be trained on collecting water using gutter installation from any surface not necessarily roofs.
FERRO CEMENT TANK; During the months of March through April the community members experience heavy rains but they do have a challenge of inadequate containers to collect the rain water. Roof water catchments without a storage tank are useless. The community members will be taught on how to construct the Ferro cement tanks. The Ferro cement tanks are more durable compared to the plastic tanks. The tanks can easily be pricked by nails but the Ferro cement tanks can not be pricked.
BSF; Biosand water Filtration is made from cement, sand, gravel, a tube, media (fine sand coarse sand, gravel) and other locally available materials. The BioSand Water filter is a ‘point of use’ household device. The water to be filtered can be obtained from the closest water supply point, whether river, stream or well, carried physically to the filter and used immediately thereafter. The water supply, water treatment and water distribution are therefore all within the control of the individual householder. BSF is one of the cheapest ways of making water clean and safe for use and there must be water available to pass through the BSF. It is affordable, durable, easy to understand and use, more replicable than other technologies.

In addition to te above activies that will be done in Kambare and Sare GWAKo proposes to undertake safe water and hygiene programs in 15 schools as described below;
Shalow Boreholes; GWAKO runs a portable and cost effective drill rig that can sink water wells of 200ft. Through this project GWAKO will drill 15 of such Boreholes in schools within Nyando and Kisumu districts where we have established that are very needy. Alongside such drilling the comunities (schools management committee) will undergo operation and maintanances training for the sustainability of such facilities.
Sanitation /Latrine Program
Latck of safe sanitation facilities is known to be a limitation to learning especially among girl -child. Under this program latrine and water wells are the main physical construction activities. The community members have two types of household latrine designs to choose from. These designs are developed to suit (i) the available land space, and (ii) their affordability. The household contribution varied accordingly to the design; A total of 75 door s/holes of VIP latrines are planned under this project, benefiting pupils population of about 25,875. The toilet slabs with custom designed logo will initially be produced by the GWAKO team to set up uniformity (standard). These slabs will be sold out to the beneficiaries at a subsidized fee.

Thereafter GWAKO staff will directly supervise and control the quality of slabs and Trapezium blocks making. Lining trapezium blocks and the quality of latrine construction works only up to the ground level will also be guided and controlled by GWAKO staffs, after which the owner decides on the super-structure according to their likings and budget.

In addition to the individual household latrines, the project will also build a two-room VIP-latrine for community use in three market centers at Nyakakana, Ombeyi and Hongo ogosa Community Health Center.

Phases:

This project will be done in one phase and will run over a period of 18 months.

Community Organization:

The project followed a strong community based. The GWAKO officials shall train the women groups leaders during a Project Orientation Training. Community meetings were organized to disseminate information about the project implementation approach. Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRA) has been used to assess the needs of the community and organize them for the project. Selected leaders of the women groups were trained in PRA tools for this purpose at the beginning of the project. A step-by-step procedural guideline has been prepared; Such as community profiling of water, sanitation and hygiene status; In-depth study of social determinants such as infrastructure, daily activity profile, gender relations and roles etc culminating in a community action plan on water supply, sanitation and hygiene and SWOT analysis as part of the assessment process aimed at providing snapshot description of both internal and external characteristics of a situation, system and/or process.

GWAKO team and selected trained Community Workers will carry out door-to-door campaigns. The women groups/community members are made fully familiar with the project rules, and the roles and responsibilities of all the stakeholders. Community development awareness strategy will be the first phase of the project in order to maintain good communication with and enhance participation of the community. Regular community meetings will be conducted during the implementation phase where various issues will be discussed and problems resolved.
The project strictly followed demand based approach. A strong desire of the community for improving their living conditions and their active involvement are the pre-conditions for their participation in the project.

The community members are guided through the stepwise implementation process of the project. The stepwise process involved a series of activities and benchmarks that provided safeguard to the integrity of the project process and increased community participation and ownership of the project. A number of specific activities and/or criteria will be developed which the community had to fulfill before a next operational step is started. The below listed actions will be confirmed over this period;
? The community has agreed to participate actively and fulfill all the project criteria.
? The community has formed a Project Management Committee (PMC) by electing its office bearers, and they have undergone PRA and related training designed specially for them.
? The villagers have informed the local government that GWAKO and her partner is launching the project in their area.
? Interested households in a neighborhood forms Women groups/Water Users Groups (WUG) and they have submitted request forms to GWAKO office.
? The community has agreed to mobilize its own resources, including human resources, to assume full responsibility for operation and maintenance of the water wells.
? The Women groups/WUGs have unanimously agreed and decided on the site for placing the water well. All the proposed sites have been inspected by GWAKO technician and have found suitable from technical and social grounds.

Government Interaction:

Ancillary activities:

The Women groups will be trained in household water filtrations --- making of the BSf - Biosand water filters. After the training they will be supported to produce the filters with their groups which in turn they will sellto groups, members and others as an income generating activity of the group.

Most recently, the emphasis has been on schools/community managements of all water and sanitation platforms, through working in partnership with local schools/CBO’s to provide long term cost recovery (for long term sustainability of the facilities) and food production. (intergated water use). The key component of our food security has been promoting of Amaranth grains --- which is know to be exceptionally nutritious, high protein value and requires significantly less rainfall than commonly grown crops in this area. GWAKO has promoted the growing of this grain as it offers special value in managing diseases such as HIV/Aids, scurvy and even kwashiorkor which are commonly known to affect under fed children. The schools will be supported to form young farmers clubs with the aim of using water for irrigating the Amarantha grains.

Other Issues:

community members, school teachers and pupils will be trained on the concept of ferro cements constructions and gutter installations. follow up activities will be initiated to establish the level of adoptions.