Interview of Grace N. Mutema, Chief of Kasaini Location, Matinyani District – July 23, 2014 Kitui WASH– WINLIP July 31, 2014 Bethuel Mbugua, DfD

I am Grace N. Mutema, the chief of Kasaini Location, Matinyani District, Kitui County. I remember before the project started officers from Amref Health Africa came to and explained to me that they were interested in implementing a project in my area. That is when I invited to a baraza so that the community members could themselves prioritize their problems in the presence of the officers. Water was established as the main problem. When the project was brought to my location my primary role as a local administrator was to mobilize and sensitize the community about the water project. Once they were mobilized, community members of Mutindi came together and with the help with materials from Amref Health Africa build a surface dam. The community members bought the ballast and provided manual labor. This was critical because initially it was a group that was to own the project, but this would have brought conflict between group members and community members. Making the project a community project ensures that each member of the community owns it. What bore from the community water projects were other groups being identified to have the capacity to sustain themselves based on the activities that they were involved in even prior to Amref Health Africa coming to this location. The groups that had already invested in using the river water for planting vegetables and had a loan and credit system in place were most often chosen. Amref Health Africa would provide them with shallow wells or dig boreholes, provide them with large water tanks and a greenhouse. The greenhouses were built by the community but owned by the group. Although they don’t give us free food, we are benefitting because we do not have to go far to buy food. The initial plan with Amref Health Africa was to provide surfacedam and then later on follow-up by digging shallow wells. These shallow wells will be dug where the entire community can access the water. This area has a river and so does the neighboring sub-county, but their river tends to dry faster than

the one here. People used to come from that area, which is a distance away, to get water in this area. They would all gather at the water point together with their livestock. Getting water became a whole day affair. Although no conflict was ever reported, I can assure you there was tension given that everyone wanted water and at there were times that animals and the people would dirty the water competing for it at the water point. Nowadays they have a surface-dam, which was constructed by Amref Health Africa that has water. They don’t have to travel so far to get here and they can use that time to do other things. Additionally, the groups with green houses utilize water stored in the shallow wells built under the river sand. Amref Health Africa did not build the surface dams alone, the communities were key players to their completion. Therefore, once Amref Health Africa leaves, the dams will be safe and will be maintained as they have been since they were built. It is worth noting that Amref Health Africa has provided community members with trainings, therefore knowledge is there on how to maintain the dams and also how to run the greenhouses. During the building of surface dams, community members were involved from mixing the cement and ballast to plastering the wall. If you were to ask you to build you now I would. Currently we have Kunikila piped water project that we are in the process of completing. This project brings piped water from a borehole in Matinyani that has a lot of water. Amref Health Africa and I sat together and decided that the borehole would best serve the community instead of the borehole that we were using which has very little water. This water would be fetched by an entire community and what would be left would be directed to a water kiosk. Thus, I instead directed that the water be used only by Chani Girls high school in our area because the girls spent a lot of time coming to the river to fetch water instead of being in school. We are almost done and I can tell you that the community through the group members owns this project. They dig the trenches, they connect the pipes, and the artisan makes the final touches. However, lack of tools hampers our effort because we are forced to use crude and homemade tools. We also don’t have spare parts that when the pump breaks we are forced to wait until funds are available to make the repairs. As the chief, I am there with them and they know that when they need repairs done, I will be there. Also, this is a money generating project. The school pays for the water and so will the Community members once the project is complete. This money is used for diesel and repairs. This work is mainly delegated to the Water Management Committee (WMC) chair. My job is to make things happen which are beyond their control such as ensuring that the concerned government

ministries are involved i.e. Ministry of Water to ensure good water quality and Ministry of Agriculture to provide farming trainings. My future plan is to extend the water to other areas as means of expanding this group’s income base. A minute ago when I was talking in the baraza, I was reminding the group that they need to remember to contribute to pay to build the water kiosk and also to think where to build it. It is very hard work keeping a group together but they are determined. I am very happy with the way that Amref Health Africa has come and been part of us. They know the groups strengths and weaknesses, and they assist where the group needs assistance. If you go through this visitors book, half it has been signed by Amref Health Africa. This tells you the level of interaction between Amref Health Africa and this community is very high. The projects are attracting a lot of visitors and that in itself is a big achievement.