The IWA Water and Development Congress started this Sunday, December 10, at Kigali Convention Center in Rwanda. With an overarching theme of water, sanitation, and climate resilience – keys to a water-wise future, the 2023 edition present solutions spanning water and sanitation services, the role of water in urban areas, the links between cities and basins, and the opportunities to achieve climate resilience
In his presentation on to the participants of IWA this Tuesday 12 December 2023, Isaac Kega Muthoni, General manager, Programmes, starts introducing himself and welcoming participants and says that The Water Fund has developed five main mechanisms of financing and executing its operations.
“So again, we want to welcome you as we engage in these ,My name is Isaac Tega Muthoni, I work with the fund as a general manager of investments and programs. I’m an economist and I’ve served the fund for the last, now, 13 years from 2010, in the break of around one year.
Isaac Tega Muthoni, General manager of investments and programs, Water Sector Trust Fund in Kenya
So, I must say that I’ve seen tremendous growth that the fund has been able to achieve over time. Again, for those of us who have not been to Kenya, I’ll take the next two minutes just to tell us what Kenya is all about and what we stand for.
We are not for many things. We are not for many things. I know for those of us who follow athletics. Yesterday we had the World Athletics for the Year. And I think we have six winners in different categories. And out of the winners, two are from Kenya.
We have Faith, of course, from Kenya, who runs the 1500 meters. And we also had Kevin, again, who has had an astonishing run in the first one year in the marathon.
So, we are two winners. Again, out of these, for all the upcoming or promising young athletes, we have two of them. We only have two opportunities for the entire country and two for the entire world. And these two are again from Kenya.
we take a lot of pride in Kenya being an athlete and a powerhouse. So, Kenya is a country in East Africa and is a member of the East African community.
And we take a lot of pride in our World Cup heritage.
Our World Athletics, our Kenya’s World League is unrivaled in the entire world. So, the species that we have, in terms of the biodiversity that we have in the country, so we are very proud of that.
we are up to around 11% of the bird species that we have in the entire world. So, for the bird watchers, and the persons who are the watchers in the bird watching, it is the bird watchers’ paradise. So, you are very welcome to come and experience this.
I’m taking pride in this, that we have over 1,400 kilometers of beach coverage on our Kenyan coastline and shoreline. This is something I take pride in, And of course, for the beach lovers, again, it’s a hidden place to come and experience the beautiful beaches that we have in the country.
Again, something I take pride in, that we are home to over 100 endemic species. By endemic, we mean that Kenya is the only place that we find these 100 different species of birds. Animals, or wildlife, anyway.
Kenya is the only place that we get pride in.
So, again, these are some of the things I take pride in. in addition to this, of course, we have the second highest mountain, Mount Kenya.
So, our landscape varies from the highest point, Mount Kenya, all the way down to the beach. And for that reason, we have over 23 national parks that we can get to enjoy lots of fun, like in your business in the country.
So, now coming down to the water sector, because that’s the business that we have to conduct this morning.
The water sector in the country is guided by the Water Act of 2016. Our operations are the institutional legal framework, developed by the Water Act of 2016. And it provides for four levels of governance, as well as four levels of regulation, policy coordination, and service provision.
Now, the Ministry, just like many other countries, of water, sanitation, and irrigation, is responsible for policy coordination at the national level.
Then, under the Ministry, we have established two specific regulators. One for water resource management, and one for water service provision.
So, for water resource management, the Water Regulatory Authority is responsible for regulation of water resources. And the Water Services Regulatory Board is responsible for the regulation of water service provision in the country.
it is responsible for the regulation of the water service providers, including licensing of the WSPs. So, we also have specific institutions that have been established for infrastructure development.
And these include the Water Works Development Agencies. And also, we have the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority that’s responsible for the development of dams in the country.
Not as financing to the WSTEP, but as financing to the specific projects that we are investing in. Could be in the ratio of around 8 to 15% of the total project cost. And this can be either in the form of direct financing or it can also be in the form of technical support and resource allocation that is being directed to the projects.
Water Service Trust Fund is responsible for financing of the projects. The Water Service Provider is responsible. for the implementation of the project. The county government is responsible for the control of the people’s support and also permission of the counterpart for financing support to the contract.
we conduct an independent verification of the achievement of the milestones and once satisfied, this project is closed. Then I must say that at this point at the point of closure. we don’t leave the project at that.
We invest in annual operations and follow up the projects for five years after the completion of the project just to assess the levels of sustainability of this project and be assured that the results.
Over 70% of the projects that we’ve invested in the last five years or so have been deemed to be sustainable and delivering value to the targeted communities. And we are very independent of targeting the underserved and marginalized in the country. So, again as a sector financing institution”.
Water Sector Trust Fund (WaterFund) is the Kenyan State Corporation under the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation mandated to assist in financing water, sanitation and water resources management projects in the underserved and marginalised rural and urban areas.
In the Water Act, 2016, the mandate of the WaterFund is to provide conditional and unconditional grants to Counties and to assist in financing the development of and management of water services in the marginalised and underserved areas including,
Community level initiatives for the sustainable management of water resources Development of water services in rural areas considered not to be commercially viable for provision of water services by licensees Development of water services in the under-served poor urban areas Research activities in the area of water resource management and water services,
sewerage and sanitation WaterFund was first established under the Water Act, 2002, as the Water Services Trust Fund with the mandate to provide financing assistance towards water and sanitation projects to underserved and low-income rural and urban areas.
