Clean Drinking Water and Hygiene with a Gender Focus This project aims to achieve the following outcomes: more women and men in the arid land community of Maralal Kenya, influence the local decisions and practices that improve sustainable access, control, management and safe use of water resource assets; gain access to clean water; and practice safe environmental sanitation and hygiene behaviours. The project will benefit 4508 individuals.
CAFOD partner, the Catholic dioceses of Maralal have previously implemented projects funded by CAFOD and other donors. Most of the projects have a component of provision of water for human and livestock consumption culminating in the construction of water facilities such as water pans and drilling of boreholes and rock catchments. Whereas the installed rock catchments and boreholes are likely to provide clean drinking water if hygienically maintained, the earth dams have no facilities to provide clean drinking water for human consumption. Within the same communities the coverage of latrines is very low and due to open defecation there is a likelihood of contamination of water sources.  
This project aims at increasing accessibility of sufficient potable water to the community while at the same time addressing the need for safe defecation through Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) activities focusing on sensitizing the community to construct their own latrines with no external material support. Success stories especially from the Public Health Department of Kitui   following the CLTS approach have informed the planning of the sanitation component of this project.  The partner in Kitui has participated in the review of this programme.
The project further aims at sensitizing the community on safe hygiene through simple messages on safe water (drinking only from a safe water source or home treatment), safe defecation and hand washing at critical times.  The project will also utilise existing gender audits/gender analysis to review the gender roles of men and women, boys and girls in the community with the aim of ultimately sensitizing community leaders on gender roles and women/girls participation, and increase women’s leadership in WASH and environmental management committees. The sensitization will be built on existing gender activities being carried out by the partners.   
This project aims to achieve the following Match Funds outcome indicators:
 
• Number of men and women, reporting access to safe drinking water, 
• Number of women and men reporting access to sanitation facilities, 
• Number of women and men demonstrating good hygiene practices.
• Number of women engaged in WASH and environmental management committees reporting increased opportunities to participate in decisions affecting access to, and safe use of, household and/or community resources such as water. 
CAFOD’s partners will show evidence of both women’s and men’s participation throughout the project cycle and use gender disaggregated data in monitoring and reporting. Gender analysis will look at the roles of men, women, boys and girls, and how gender relations affect access and management of WASH facilities and initiatives, with a view of sensitizing the community on the participation of each gender in the project. The programme will use existing gender audits that are currently being carried out by a consultant under the CAFOD-supported Governance programme. These will also inform the work schedule and other project activities so that the distinctive needs of women and girls will be included in the programme design and activities. Examples include time of working and time of meetings to ensure women have time for their young ones and meetings are organized in such a way that it does not result in women and girls walking in the darkness.  Separate consultations with each gender will also ensure women are not dominated by men in contribution to discussions.