To achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6, access to water and sanitation for all, partnerships are crucial. FINISH Mondial (FM) and WaterWorX (WWX) have developed a strategic partnership to collaborate on water and sanitation initiatives to be launched in three pilot areas in East Africa: Nakuru and Homa Bay in Kenya and Mwanza in Tanzania.Just two months after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation and knowledge sharing for the development of the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sectors, FINISH Mondial and WaterWorX have joined forces in Kenya to showcase how water and sanitation are undeniably interconnected and can be strengthened in tandem to ensure equity and sustainability of the interventions.
The pilot in Nakuru aims to ensure coverage and access to improved water and sanitation services to over 36,000 people. This is about 12% of the total population in low-income areas in Nakuru according to WASREB ranking data (2018). FINISH Mondial’s multi-stakeholder ‘Diamond’ approach will be utilized in Nakuru and Homa Bay to establish sustainable linkages between customers, entrepreneurs, financiers and governments to also identify new local financial providers to scale up financial inclusion for sanitation in the county.
The 'Diamond" approach explained (source: finishmondial.org):
FINISH Mondial is an international public-private partnership (PPP) programme spearheaded by WASTE, Amref Flying Doctors and Aqua for All and is supported by the Dutch government (DGIS), working to achieve large-scale sanitation services. FINISH Mondial started in India where it has been active since 2009, and has been replicated in Kenya since 2013. In 2019, FM celebrated the milestone of constructing over 1 million improved sanitation systems which has impacted more than 5 million people to date.
WaterWorX is a partnership of public water operators to increase access to sustainable water services for 10 million people between 2017-2030. WaterWorX is co-funded and jointly implemented by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 10 Dutch water operators and local water operators in Africa, Asia and South America.
The cooperation between FM and WWX continues to build sustainable water facilities in developing countries, helping to achieve the targets of SDG 6 and in light of the current environment - supports the global effort to tackle COVID-19.
