Project: Illustrative Kenya Community WASH and Livelihoods Project

This is an illustrative PHC Port project for exploring how PHC Service could support a community-owned WASH and livelihoods intervention in Kenya. The proposed delivery model combines physical WASH outputs with the governance and behaviour-change work required to sustain them. PHC would provide a shared structure for recording the project's intentions, concerns, actions, locations, people, events and deliverables, while its comment mechanism would enable community members, committee representatives, implementers, local administrators and funders to contribute observations and respond to emerging issues. Particular attention would be given to committee legitimacy, community understanding, participation, incentives, inclusion, fee collection, financial transparency, maintenance responsibilities, safeguarding, grievance handling and the relationship between customary practices and formal local administration. The project would begin as a neutral demonstration and 7-Day Review candidate. Its scope, location, beneficiaries, implementing organisation, funding arrangements and delivery claims would remain provisional until authorised stakeholders provide or approve suitable source materials.

The project aims to enable participating communities to obtain lasting health, dignity and livelihood benefits from locally governed water, sanitation and hygiene services. Its objectives are to improve equitable access to safe and dependable water; increase the adoption of safe sanitation and hygiene practices; establish community governance committees whose membership, authority and decisions are understood and trusted; include women, young people, people with disabilities and otherwise under-represented groups in decisions; define transparent arrangements for user contributions, expenditure, maintenance, complaints and conflict resolution; build local technical and administrative capability to operate and repair water systems; align community structures with relevant local administration and service providers; support appropriate livelihood opportunities associated with WASH and wider household resilience; and maintain an evidence base showing whether infrastructure remains functional, behaviour changes are sustained and benefits are fairly experienced.

Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects seek to improve safe and reliable access to water, adequate sanitation facilities and the hygiene practices that protect health. In rural and underserved communities, these interventions may include water points, boreholes, pumps, storage and distribution systems; household or institutional sanitation; hygiene education; and locally organised arrangements for operation, maintenance and accountability. Livelihoods activity can complement WASH by strengthening household resilience and creating income or skills connected with system maintenance, sanitation products, agriculture or other locally appropriate enterprise. This illustrative Kenyan project has been created from a high-level professional discussion and does not represent an approved, named or fully documented live project. Its central premise is that infrastructure alone will not create lasting benefit unless community members understand, trust, influence and progressively take ownership of the governance structures responsible for it.

No delivery or impact is claimed for this illustrative project. The intended impact would be communities that use, trust and help govern water and sanitation services that remain safe, inclusive, financially understandable and operational beyond the initial implementation period. Progress would need to be evidenced at several levels: completed and functioning infrastructure; reliable water quality and service availability; inclusive and legitimate committee participation; transparent decisions and financial records; timely maintenance and repair; accessible complaints and feedback; adoption of sanitation and hygiene practices; reduced time or burden associated with obtaining water; and livelihood benefits that do not exclude the poorest households. The initial PHC work should therefore establish a baseline and distinguish project outputs from community uptake, governance quality, service continuity and longer-term health or economic outcomes. Any future claims would be recorded with their source, date, location, responsible party and verification status.