WASH and Grow! project (2021-) improves sanitation and hygiene conditions and promotes sustainable agriculture in Kenya. WASH and Grow! brings together an innovative group of actors: 40 registered community-based self-help groups in Kenya, 2 Finnish NGOs and two companies. The project is implemented by Mifuko Women Development CBO and Mifuko Trust ry supported by a Fair Trade design company Mifuko Oy. Expert support is provided by sustainable construction expert Ukumbi ry, remote sensing and machine learning expert Soilwatch Oy and an agroforestry expert World Agroforestry (ICRAF).
The project is working on both WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) and regenerative agriculture simultaneously. These areas are often interconnected, and addressing them together is likely to have a greater impact than addressing them separately.
The key development problem that the project will address is reduced food security and livelihood losses due to morbidity caused by poor WASH conditions, climate change and soil degradation. These problems hamper household farming and lead to increased poverty. The primary beneficiaries of the project are 1,300 women who are members of 40 self-help groups in 60 remote rural villages in south-eastern Kenya. The secondary beneficiaries are their families and the local communities in the area, who will benefit from the know-how generated by the project, which is likely to improve the livelihoods of the whole region.
The main outcomes of the project will be:
- Women’s group members and their families have improved sanitation and hygiene conditions and are healthier, thus improving their ability to work, farm and participate in society
- Ecological sanitation is a viable business
- Women’s group members improve their crops in ecologically sustainable way through the use of ecological fertilizer and agroforestry methods
- The capacity of the partner organisation has strengthened to ensure the sustainability of the project results
Key achievements to date include:
- Improvement in sanitation conditions within women’s groups, achieved through the training of 26 sanitation ambassadors, 60 CLTS champions, construction of 42 exemplary dry toilets, provision of soap-making and hygiene training, and implementation of menstrual hygiene programs.
- Establishment and ongoing support of the Mifuko Women Development CBO
- Agroforestry initiatives, including the training of 41 agroforestry ambassadors and the successful nurturing of over 18,000 trees as of February 2024, planted and cared for by women’s groups and their families.
- Water tank project accomplishments, with the procurement of 146 water tanks jointly with the Mifuko Women Development CBO in 2023. Beneficiaries contributed a significant portion of the tank costs, and prioritization was given to agroforestry ambassadors and the most vulnerable community members in the selection process.
Read more about WASH and Grow! here: https://mifuko.com/pages/mifuko-trust-wash-and-grow
Partners: Mifuko Trust, Mifuko Women Development CBO, ICRAF, Soilwatch and Mifuko Ltd
Category: Community participation, Development, Education
Medium/technology/material: CSEB, ecological sanitation, UDDT
Typology: Ecological sanitation facility, composting toilet
