Member Profile: Boda Boda Initiatives

Bodaboda Initiatives Kenya operates in informal settlements of Kenya.
We have been involved in the improvement of standards of living of our members and other residents, by providing access to adequate clean water through introduction of water kiosks and installation of plastic water storage tanks. We improve water quality through using Simple Solar Water Pasteurizers and boiling unclean water collected from stagnant pools using Solar Cookers.
We also promote health through hygiene education, water and sanitation facilities, environmental and waste management issues as well as facilitating gender equity in project formulation, decision making and management facilities and services.

For the last 6 years we have initiated and plan to mainstream more water programs and we have achieved the following:

•Improve the the standard of living of the informal settlement by providing access to adequate clean water through provision of 10 water kiosks for our members.
•Facilitated in water storage using plastic tanks for long lasting and easy maintenance by the community.
•Iimproved water quality through teaching our members to use Simple Solar Water Pasteurizers and boiling of unclean water collected from pools using Solar Cookers.
•Through capacity building we have strengthened community management and institutional capacity in order to run and manage installed facilities.
•Promoted health through hygiene education, water and sanitation facilities, environmental, and waste management issues.
•Facilitated gender equity in project formulation, decision making and management facilities and services.
•Improved the cleanliness of the environment through organized garbage collection in the community where we collect plastic waste for sale
•Empowered the communities to save through the compulsory group savings from funds generated from the water kiosks and plastic waste paper sales.

Bodaboda Initiatives Kenya is a community based organization (CBO) that was started in late 1999 as a self help group. We have already filed papers with our National NGO Bureau to upgrade our organisation to NGO status to be able to serve the women on a national basis.
Bodaboda Initiatives is run by a commitee with the following organizational structure : -
•Board of Directors
•Management committee
•Field team
•Logistical and advisory committee.
The officials who run the organization on a day to day basis are;
•Chairperson
•Vice Chair
•Secretary
•Assistant Secretary
•Treasurer
•A Society Member.

The custody of the funds is in the name of the Bodaboda Initiatives Kenya as an organization and the use of the funds are only for the purpose of meeting the objectives of the society
The designation of the person responsible for funds and property are as follows:-
•Chairman
•Secretary
•and treasurer
iThere are three categories of members.
i.Ordinary members - Members who will join for the purpose of contributing to the objectives of the organization. Membership fee Ksh 1,000/= (US$ 65)
ii.Honorary members - Those who by virtue of their expert knowledge or experience in water and sanitation activities and would wish to be associated with Bodaboda Initiatives Kenya - no membership fee.

We have 40 women leaders each with a cell of 15 other members under their charge thus we have the organization serving 600 women directly Each family has an average of 5 dependents thus making a total of 3000 people.
The group was formed by women in the second largest informal settlement in located in Thika Municipality which encompasses 7 villages with a population of 85,000 people of which women form the greater number. HIV/AIDS and poverty are extreme with women living on less than US$1 a day.
Being informal settlements, the women do not own the land they occupy hence they are squatters. Our organisation has in place a number of water kiosks which belong to our members. In other areas water is delivered in 20 litre containers to households. A number of members in our organisation have been introduced in the use of Solar Cookers to boil their water but the majority of the women just use the water without any treatment which has led to several cases of waterborne diseases in the local hospital.
Since there are very few public or private toilets,we have assisted our members to dug pit latrines but they are less than 10 ft deep and fill very rapidly and are unsafe to use. Majority of the people use the famous ‘flying toilets’ where polythene papers are used and disposed outside the door. Raw sewage flows everywhere and ends up in the only river that women collect the water from. It also ends up in the stagnant quarry pools which are also a water source.
In the areas that we operate in we have formed water committees who oversee the distribution of water from our water kiosks. They are also responsible for organizing water purification by training women groups on hygienic practices.
We have also started addressing the problem of plastic waste management by collecting, sorting and recycling plastic waste thereby producing recycled products for reuse. The people involved are the waste collectors, street children, economically marginalized women from the slum areas and OVC’s (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) .Bodaboda Initiatives has been involved in waste collecting for some time. Initially this was solely for business purposes because we got our daily bread from the activity. From poverty alleviation we also realized that the environment was getting cleaner and thus was born the idea of adding plastic waste and the idea of recycling