: The Samburu Project

Approximate division of time and resources

By Blue Planet Network Posted on Mon 19 Apr 2010, over 14 years ago

Dear Kirsten,

You have been referred by Jonathan Greenblatt, who was one of PWX's earliest supporters, so we are happy to welcome you to the community.

Am impressed after reading your profile on your focus and even on the large number of partnerships. Have a few questions:

1.Can you please give an approximate breakdown of the time and resources used for the community building activities and the actual well construction?

2. How deep are your wells on average?

3. What pumps have you used?

4. It seems you don't tackle sanitation (other than education), is that not a problem in your area?

5. Are your partnerships operating with all your wells (communities) or only a few at this point?

Looking forward to helping you put up all your 28 wells on the PWX map.

Regards,
Rajesh

Approximate division of time and resources

By The Samburu Project Posted on Thu 22 Apr 2010, over 14 years ago

Thanks Rajesh. Sorry for the delay in my response. I wanted to get feedback from Lucas before answering questions. As it often is, we were communication challenged for a few days.

Please let me know if you have any follow up questions.

1.Can you please give an approximate breakdown of the time and resources used for the community building activities and the actual well construction?

Once a community is selected for a potential well, prior to well drilling, the community spends 4-5 days clearing bushes , constructing a road to the well site, harvesting sand, collecting hard core, stones and fetching water for construction of slab and the stand to complete the well. They are on site during drilling to receive maintenance training and to assist the drilling team if need be. After drilling is completed, representatives from all of the communities come together for a two-day hygiene and sanitation workshop.

2. How deep are your wells on average?

50-75 meters

3. What pumps have you used?

Afridev Handpumps

4. It seems you don't tackle sanitation (other than education), is that not a problem in your area?

Sanitation is an issue. Currently we tackle sanitation issues as we identify 2 people in every community that we construct a well. These people are trained for 2 days by public health officials from the ministry of health on hygiene and sanitation. They in turn train their community at large.

We have not constructed latrines as part of our well drilling but we are strategically planning the construction of latrines in all of our communities as a 2nd phase of our work.

5. Are your partnerships operating with all your wells (communities) or only a few at this point?

We have partners working in some capacity with many of our well communities including ministry of health, agriculture, livestock, administration, opinion leaders and other NGOs.

Looking forward to helping you put up all your 28 wells on the PWX map.

Me too!!!

Participatory M & E and sustainability.

By GWAKO-Groundwater Abstractions in Kenya Outreach Posted on Wed 21 Apr 2010, over 14 years ago

Warm Greetings from Kisumu, Kenya

Hundreds of hand-pumps (mostly afridev and Indian mark 11) have been installed to provide safe drinking water to rural communities by various governmental ministry, churches and NGOs within most parts of Kenya. Rural drinking water facilities installed over the past years served participating communities for couple of years and many of them are currently inactive . What steps have you put into place to avoid seeing samburu water project falling on the above category?

From your profile the project is expected to help set the groundwork for a participatory development planning process that will strengthen the effectiveness of governance at both the grassroots levels, however it will be great if you explain how stakeholders are/ will participate on planning, monitoring, evaluations.

Thanks;

Benjamin Koyoo

Participatory M & E and sustainability.

By The Samburu Project Posted on Fri 23 Apr 2010, over 14 years ago

Thanks Benjamin...

Hundreds of hand-pumps (mostly afridev and Indian mark 11) have been installed to provide safe drinking water to rural communities by various governmental ministry, churches and NGOs within most parts of Kenya. Rural drinking water facilities installed over the past years served participating communities for couple of years and many of them are currently inactive . What steps have you put into place to avoid seeing samburu water project falling on the above category?

We work with the communities on an ongoing basis, training them on maintenance. As breakages come up, communities have the opportunity to learn through our support system how to fix the pumps. The goal is that these skills will be passed down from one generation to the next. With 28 wells drilled, hundreds of people in the community have been trained and supported in well maintenance.

During last year's drought, we did have two pumps break that were unrepairable. We loaned money to these two communities to purchase new pumps. They are obligated to pay back the loan within a year. These funds will then in turn be placed into an account that will provide revolving loans for major repairs. For smaller repairs, the communities have funds to pay for spare parts.

We are aways open to suggestion for pumps that will be more easily maintainable.

From your profile the project is expected to help set the groundwork for a participatory development planning process that will strengthen the effectiveness of governance at both the grassroots levels, however it will be great if you explain how stakeholders are/ will participate on planning, monitoring, evaluations.

Lucas Lekwale, our project manager, is the NGO representative for the District Development Committee. In this role he heads up the planning committee at the district level which oversees all development issues in the entire district. In addition to receiving regular reports and requests from each community's Water Committee, Lucas makes regular visits to the well communities to ensure smooth operations. The Samburu Project sends a representative at least once per year to gather input regarding needs and future projects.

Hand pump maintenance and hygiene education

By Lifewater International Posted on Tue 20 Apr 2010, over 14 years ago

Hello Kirsten,

Glad to have the opportunity to become familiar with your organization! I've looked at your web page and have just two questions for now:

1) As a part of the well drilling and subsequent training, who is responsible for hand pump maintenance and what kind of training and support to they receive?

2) Can you give us more detail about the hygiene and sanitation training? Please describe the content of the training in terms of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are desired to be learned.

Thank you,

Sam Moore

Hand pump maintenance and hygiene education

By The Samburu Project Posted on Thu 22 Apr 2010, over 14 years ago

Thanks Sam..

1) As a part of the well drilling and subsequent training, who is responsible for hand pump maintenance and what kind of training and support to they receive?

Each community identifies 2 people who are trained on pump maintenance and repairs. Lucas Lekwale, TSP's project manager is also available to all of the communities in the event that their is a problem that they cannot fix. He goes in to the community and helps to troubleshoot the problem. With this, the support the communities receive is ongoing.

2) Can you give us more detail about the hygiene and sanitation training? Please describe the content of the training in terms of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are desired to be learned.

The training focuses mainly on three areas:
1. Protection of water sources
Common deceases caused by water shortage and water related deceases.
Human livestock waste disposal
Personal, domestic and environmental hygiene.

Hand pump maintenance and hygiene education

By The Samburu Project Posted on Thu 22 Apr 2010, over 14 years ago

Sorry Sam...my reply went before I had completed my answer. My partner Lucas Lekwale and I collaborated on the answers and I just plugged in his unedited thoughts. For Question #2:

The training focuses mainly on four areas:
1. Protection of water sources
2. Common diseases caused by water shortage and water related diseases.
3. Human & livestock waste disposal
4. Personal, domestic and environmental hygiene.

The workshop is led by a public health official from the Ministry of Health on hygiene and sanitation. And, essentially the goal is to educate the community members on keeping their water safe and clean through understanding how ground water can become contaminated and giving them the tools to minimize this from happening. They also learn about the hygienic benefits to having clean water like hand washing. In addition to a two-day workshop, we also do ongoing training and education at the water point.