For every five boreholes that are dug in the North Eastern region of Kenya, only two will end up working.
With a severe drought facing millions of families in Northern Kenya because of five failed planting seasons, dry boreholes have become a frustrating challenge for these communities.
Borehole breakdowns happen frequently. From time to time, and for various reasons, they deteriorate and fail to produce the quantity and sometimes quality of water they were once capable of. Pumps that operate boreholes tend to break from overuse and poor management, there is a lack of proper information on groundwater, and sometimes, the water yield is little. In extreme cases, badly constructed boreholes collapse. Instead of abandoning them and incurring the costs of drilling new ones, they can be rehabilitated.
The Wakenya Tulindane Initiative, together with the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) and the Kenya Defence Forces, are set to rehabilitate 360 boreholes in drought-affected counties that have been neglected in order to meet the ever-rising demand for water.
About 360 boreholes in 32 counties – nine not in ASAL but falling under water-scarce regions – have been identified for rehabilitation.
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Wakenya Tulindane and the National Drought Response Steering Committee, will be on the ground to assess the needs of each borehole.
Once the boreholes are rehabilitated, they will impact the lives of 2.5 million people.
“We are currently partnering with KDF to look at boreholes across the country which need repair over the next few months. We can do a lot to support water availability during this period. We believe we will impact about two and a half million people through this initiative,” said Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa, who is also chairman of the National Drought Response Steering Committee.
Such projects require community participation to ensure the boreholes run sustainably for a long time to come and that there is safe water supply for families and livestock, says Karen Basiye, the Director Sustainable Business and Social Impact and the M-Pesa and Safaricom Foundations at Safaricom.
Each rehabilitated borehole will have a community that looks after it. Water committees will be formed to oversee the operations of the boreholes, and community members, through a low set fee – which will pay the person working at the water kiosk and handling repairs of the borehole when needed – can access the water.
“Water is life. Water is a game changer in these ASAL areas. That means the communities can have access to water for their own needs and for their livestock,” says Karen.
As the world marks World Water Day on March 22, an annual day celebrated to increase awareness on the importance of freshwater and the need to conserve it, Kenya is in the midst of a biting drought that has left people without adequate access to water.
“The theme for this year’s World Water Day is Accelerating Change, so be the change you want to see in how you use water, manage water, and share water. Water, indeed, is a scarce resource. And from this drought, if there’s any lesson we’ve learned, is that water is life. So be the change you want to be around water. Let us share this scarce resource with those who don’t have it,” says Karen.
The prevailing drought, which has created water and food insecurity has ravaged millions of Kenyans. And to respond to this dire situation and help starving families, Safaricom PLC, together with the M-Pesa Foundation and Safaricom Foundation, launched the Pamoja Tuungane campaign in 2022 in support of people in ASAL counties, which included Isiolo, Samburu, Marsabit and Turkana.
They also rallied Kenyans of goodwill to support by donating their Bonga Points. Both Foundations donated KSh50 million each, and Kenyans donated KSh12 million worth of Bonga Points.
But when the situation worsened, the private sector joined in and banded together to help vulnerable households, however, they wanted to use the already established platform Safaricom had created in the first phase of Pamoja Tuungane.
Consequently, Pamoja Tuungane 2 was launched, raising an amount just shy of KSh600 million.
“When Pamoja Tuungane 2 was now picking up, the Kenya government decided to make things official. And so, they appointed Peter Ndegwa our CEO to lead the group of private sectors in a coordinated effort. So that gave birth to Wakenya Tulindane,” says Karen.
As a business, Karen adds, Safaricom cannot thrive when the communities are not thriving, and this, is what made it respond to the current drought.
The Wakenya Tulindane initiative will run on short-term, medium-term and long-term goals. In the short-term which is meant to ensure that communities survive and thrive, the initiative (including Pamoja Tuungane 1 and Pamoja Tuungane 2) has donated food to more than two million people. But by the end of March, Wakenya Tulindane will have donated food to one million people.
The medium-term goal, which runs concurrently with the short-term goal of donating food, is renovating the 360 boreholes.
The long-term goal will be to use technology to come up with early warning systems to respond to disaster situations like the current drought before they happen. These systems, in partnership with other line organisations, will be critical in warning communities of impending disasters (like drought), including helping communities make better decisions, like selling their livestock before they succumb to drought.
