Improving water investments in the Kenyan drylands

Despite major investments in water infrastructure in dryland areas, the functionality and sustainability of these investments remains a major challenge. The reasons for this were explored in the study “Improving the functionality of water investments in the drylands: learning from Kenya’s County Climate
Change Fund” (2022, 80pp) by Claire Bedelian et al, published by the Adaptation Consortium and the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA).

The study assessed the functionality of water investments implemented through the County Change Climate Fund (CCCF) – a mechanism to enable communities to decide how climate adaptation funds are spent so they can build their resilience to climate change. Almost all investments focus on improving availability of and access to water. However, functionality of the investments was poor because of technical and management problems related to governance, institutional capacity, technology and financial deficiencies.

The study highlights the importance of strong community management systems for reliable water supply. This includes more focus on ‘software’ aspects such as operation and maintenance, good governance practices and an appropriate institutional framework, to accompany the development of technological ‘hardware’.

Community governance systems are best placed to manage the sustainable use of variable and dispersed dryland resources. Here, control of access to water is key to ensure water use is carefully matched to the availability of the surrounding pasture.

The importance of including women from the onset of water-project planning and in the governance of the water system is highlighted.

Posted on 17 November 2022 in Pastoralism & Climate Change, Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism & Services, Pastoralism, Gender & Youth