Women-run project brings water to 300 families in Kirinyaga District, Kenya

The Kugeria Womens Group was a nominee for UNDP's Equator Prize in 2004.

Eight years ago, most women living in the Kirinyaga district in Kenya collected water three or four kilometers away from their homes or had to buy it from water sellers. Lack of safe, affordable, reliable water made agriculture difficult and caused disease. Women also faced other problems such as a lack of access to education and decision-making in community affairs.

An earlier self-help water project in the area had excluded women and had failed due to mismanagement. The local women formed the Kugeria Women’s Group, and asked for support from the Ministry of Water Development for a survey to see what how water could be delivered from the River Kiye, 11 kilometers away.

The group then sought funding and technical assistance from Africa 2000 Network, set up by the United Nations Development Program, and went on exchange visits to other water projects run by women in the country, to share experiences and seek solutions to their specific problems.

By learning the skills needed to build and maintain a water system, the Kugeria Women’s Group members brought a water supply to 300 families. Sanitation has improved, reducing waterborne diseases, and time once spent looking for water is now used for agriculture. The community uses the new water supply for irrigation and people no longer have to depend on food handouts during drought.

As a result of the project, women have become community leaders. Project management training for women’s groups has resulted in further community development including building a clinic and providing family planning services to their community.

Adapted from The Kugeria Women Water Project Case Study told in the 2000 UN Environment Program “Success Stories: Gender and the Environment,” as told in the WEDO publication “Common Ground: Women’s Access to Natural Resources and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals”, published December 2003. Contact: Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), 355 Lexington Avenue, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10017-6603, U.S.A. Email.