Lodwar – November 6, 2025 (Public Communications and Media Relations)

A joint countywide Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector convened in Lodwar to explore ways to strengthen its capacity in assessing and improving performance across WASH building blocks, promoting evidence-based planning and coordination.

The meeting brought together key actors from across Turkana’s WASH landscape and related sectors. This workshop served as a platform to build synergies, initiate joint monitoring, and chart a unified way forward for strengthening existing frameworks in the county.

This activity is part of the ongoing three-year project _KEN 1220: Strengthening WASH Governance and Sustainable Water Supply Services in Kenya_ , a collaboration between the County Government, Welthungerhilfe, and Lotus Kenya Action for Development Organization (LOKADO).

The project aims to improve water access and governance through systems strengthening for over 2,262 targeted persons and other stakeholders in Turkana.

It is structured around three levels: the micro level supports rural and low-income communities with improved WASH access, the meso level creates awareness among service authorities, stakeholders, and service providers, while the macro level facilitates coordination and policy implementation.

In his opening remarks, Lucas Edete, Acting Director for Preventive and Promotive Health, applauded the collective commitment to the WASH agenda.

“We are here to enrich this process so that the existing gaps can be addressed using the building blocks framework. Together, we can transform how we plan, deliver, and sustain WASH interventions,” he said.

Despite notable progress in Kenya’s WASH sector, performance inconsistencies remain due to institutional gaps, limited capacity, weak coordination, and data challenges.

This situation, the participants agreed, calls for a unified and participatory approach to assess and strengthen WASH systems across the county.

Facilitating the workshop, Dennis Ekiru, WASH Liaison Officer at LOKADO, outlined the nine key WASH building blocks which include institutional arrangements and coordination, service delivery infrastructure, regulation and accountability, planning, finance, monitoring, water resources and environment, learning and adaptation, and finally demand, behaviour, and political will.

“Within the building blocks, we track the achievable output indicators in order to attract and align resources, impact decision-making, and overall outcome on the community level,” he said.

During focus group discussions, participants noted that major indicators averaged two out of four, signalling the need for significant improvement.

“Our proposed solutions include capacity building, especially on policies and guidelines, joint coordination, and resource harmonization,” shared Josephine Oyar, Licensing Officer at Water Revenue Authority.

Moses Nawoton, Director for Disaster Risk Management, emphasized the need for integrated planning. “We have identified gaps, challenges, and priorities. We therefore need to reflect these gaps in the budget to adequately plan and coordinate resources with stakeholders,” he said.

According to Paul Lotum, Water Services, a collective effort is essential if Turkana is to build a resilient and efficient WASH system for Turkana.

“This process allows us to align our priorities and deliver better outcomes for our people,”According to Reuben Kibiego,County WASH Coordinator, the expected outcomes included an improved understanding of the WASH building blocks and their interlinkages.

“We expect to curate a jointly agreed WASH system performance scorecard highlighting current strengths and gaps, prioritize an action plan for strengthening WASH systems at the county level, and finally forge a way forward for enhanced stakeholder engagement and coordination through monitoring and evaluation,” he noted.

The team concluded the workshop by identifying priority areas for improvement and developing actionable recommendations for county WASH planning.

They agreed on enhanced coordination, shared accountability, and periodic joint monitoring of the building blocks to ensure sustained progress.

Members present included directors, deputy directors, project coordinators, and leads from the County Departments of Water Services, Health and Sanitation Services, Disaster Risk Management, Environmental and Naturak Resources, and Ckimate Change.

Representatives from the Water Resources Authority (WRA) and the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) were also present.