Water and Sanitation for Coast residents

A handover ceremony was held on the 10^th of December to commemorate a community project that improved access to clean water and sanitation to approximately 37,000 residents of rural districts in Coast Province, Kenya.  The ceremony took place in Chanzou Village of Kinango District – one of the 20 villages that benefited from this project.

The Water and Development Alliance, a public – private partnership between The Coca-Cola System and USAID, provided Sh26 million ($330,000) to this project implemented by the Aga Khan Foundation.

Since January 2009, the Alliance has supported the Aga Khan Foundation and other implementing agencies – the Costal Rural Support Program (CRSP) and the Community Health department (CHD) of the Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) – to strengthen water and sanitation infrastructure, promote health and hygiene in schools and communities, and increase community capacity to protect water catchments. At the end of the project, 37,000 Kenyans in Kinango, Ganze, and Kilifi districts directly benefited from this project.

The project has improved access to water supply through constructing water storage tanks, roof water harvesting facilities, and filtration galleries. Through active behavior change and mobilization campaigns, the project mobilized communities to construct pit latrines, handwashing facilities, and other hygiene facilities using their own resources. By the end of the project, latrine coverage nearly doubled in the project area. The project also trained communities on water management – over 22 Community-Owned Resource Persons (CORPS) were trained and are now equipped to maintain the 36,000 tree seedlings planted under this project.

Elizabeth Obanda of Aga Khan Foundation with Kelvin Balogun, General Manager Coca-Cola East Africa & Mozambique commissioning the project

Speaking at the hand-over ceremony, Kelvin Balogun, General Manager Coca-Cola East Africa & Mozambique said access to clean water and sanitation facilities is a global commitment of the Coca-Cola Company, stating: “Our objective is to deliver sustainable water resources within communities in which we do business as a major industrial water consumer. We expect that these water and sanitation projects will significantly reduce incidences of water-borne diseases in the communities and improve environmental conditions. We now call upon the communities to own and sustain these efforts.”

WADA is a joint initiative between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and The Coca-Cola Company that has initiated 32 projects in 22 countries worldwide, to help protect and improve the sustainability of watersheds, increase access to water supply and sanitation services for the world’s poor, and enhance productive uses of water. The Alliance is a positive example of how public-private partnerships can give localized support to those with the greatest needs for water and sanitation services, ensuring that water resources are managed to serve future generations.

The handover ceremony was witnessed by representatives of The Coca-Cola System, Coastal Bottlers Mombasa, Aga Khan Foundation (East Africa), implementing partners (CHD and CRSP,K), collaborating Government departments (Coast Water Services Board, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation), Provincial administration and civic leaders, school management committees, village development committees and the beneficiaries of the project.