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This report, produced by USAID/REAL-Water, summarizes baseline data collected in Kenya prior to the launch of a two-year impact evaluation of the Assurance Fund implementation model. This evaluation consists of a randomized stepped-wedge trial, which allows for measuring impacts rigorously while rolling out the intervention gradually. The evaluation in Kenya includes 32 piped water systems randomly assigned to one of three groups successively entering the Assurance Fund program at six-month intervals. At baseline, REAL-WATER measured the same indicators that it will measure subsequently over the course of the stepped-wedge trial: chlorine residual and E. coli concentrations in water samples (the primary outcome indicators for the trial); water treatment practices; water quality knowledge of water system operators and local government officials; consumer awareness of and perceptions of water safety; and consumer willingness-to-pay for increased water treatment and testing. REAL-WATER is also evaluating the effects of the Assurance Fund program in Ghana using a similar stepped-wedge randomized trial with 21 randomly assigned water systems.

Understanding climate processes is a crucial task for climate scientists looking to improve seasonal forecasts in the Horn of Africa, a region affected by severe droughts. The strength of the Turkana Jet – a wind feature which carries water vapour from the Indian Ocean across East Africa to Central Africa – is underestimated in current weather and climate models. New observations of the jet by researchers from the Kenya Met Department, the University of Nairobi and the University of Oxford have been used as a benchmark for UK Met Office forecasting models for East Africa. This work is providing much-needed evidence to improve current modelling and predictions, which will support policy and practice for governments and donors in the region.

In Turkana County, lack of research and data around Lodwar’s underlying aquifers, the Lodwar Alluvial Aquifer System (LAAS), has been a critical limitation to the sustainable development and management of groundwater resources. Research by the University of Nairobi is addressing these data and knowledge gaps, with groundwater quality mapping indicating areas with poor groundwater quality to inform water infrastructure investments. This work is contributing to new policy and practice to protect the Lodwar Alluvial Aquifer System and enhance resilience to climate risks.

In 2016, a results-based funding model was developed to improve the reliability of rural drinking water supply services in Kenya. The Water Services Maintenance Trust Fund (WSMTF) has tested a professional service delivery model in two counties and attracted new sources of results-based funds to guarantee water services in rural communities.

The WSMTF provides an example of how the funding gap can be met by non-donor funds in results-based contracts. In 2017, donor funds paid for 81% of WSMTF contracts, by 2021, the donor proportion had fallen to 14%. In the same period, the annual WSMTF resources increased from just under USD 50,000 to over USD 150,000.

The WSMTF has informed the work of the Uptime Catalyst Facility which has issued results-based contracts guaranteeing reliable drinking water for over 4 million rural people in 12 countries in 2023.

In rural Africa dispensaries and clinics are the most common health care facility (HCF) type and the first point of service for the rural population. WASH services provision in these facilities is key to disease prevention, as underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, data from WHO/UNICEF indicate that half of all health care facilities in developing countries lack basic water services and a quarter of them do not provide hand hygiene at points of care, creating risks for vulnerable patients and health care workers.

Instead of relying on community maintenance of waterpoints, new models of rural water service delivery that allocate risks and responsibilities between government and service providers are emerging, such as FundiFix. In 2020/21, FundiFix, ran a pilot programme in 12 HCFs in Kitui, Kenya, to test how such a professional service delivery model could be applied to health care facilities to deliver safe water and soap reliably.