Water accessibility: a wave of transformation in Turkana County, Kenya

In life, water is the closest thing to magic, with its ability to support life or extinguish it. Residents of Turkana, Kenya, for many years have had the misfortune of learning first-hand the anguish that scarcity of water brings. With pastoralism being the main economic activity for the people living in Turkana, prolonged drought has made their living conditions unbearable. In most cases the burden of searching for this precious commodity lies with the children and women, who walk more than 100 Kilometers per day in search of water for their livestock and domestic use.

In trying to address some of these challenges, UNESCO with funding from the Slovak Agency for International Development Cooperation, has been able to transform the lives of communities in Turkana through the Water Security for Turkana Project launched in 2020. The objective of the project is to provide sustainable access to adequate, clean and safe water in order to improve livelihoods as well as promote sanitation and personal hygiene for the community members. The project has been constructing water pans and promoting the rehabilitation and equipping water point using renewable energy such as solar and wind. In addition, it has also supported waste management activities such as construction of incinerators and eco-toilets, capacity building and sensitization of community on hygiene practices, and encouraging alternative livelihoods among others. Community members were also trained on how to manage and repair the water pumps. Through the project water has not only been available, more importantly, its supply is now consistent, allowing some to venture into new frontiers such as kitchen gardens while others have the courage to increase the herds of livestock.

Mama Paulina Ebei, a resident of Lobur, located in Turkana North sub county expressed that having access to water has transformed her life in ways words fail to capture.