The National Council of Churches of Kenya has earmarked to spend Sh500 million to provide water access to 5,000 households in Kitui South within four years.
NCCK general secretary Rev. Canon Chris Kinyanju said the water initiative was aimed at reducing distances to water points in Ikutha and Athi wards from 10km to less than a kilometer.
Rev Kinyanjui said the search for water in the targeted areas has women and girls leaving their homes in the wee hours thus exposing them to gender-based violence.
He said the high teenage pregnancy rate is linked to water scarcity.
The NCCK head spoke to the media on Tuesday when he jointly with the country director of the Help A Child Africa NGO, Rachel Kigame, launched three water projects implemented to completion by his organisation in Ikutha ward.
Kiangu Wiitu, Vuva and Tiva Mutulu water projects were supported by Help A Child Africa with financing from Universitas Foundation of the Netherlands.
Rev. Kinyanjui said water provision was a vital pillar in the security of women and girls and all efforts should be made to bring water closer to their homes.
“When a mother leaves home at 2 am or 3 am to go and look for water they are actually exposed to being raped and being assaulted on the way,” he said.
He added that during the Covid period, many teenage pregnancies were witnessed in Kitui county.
Rev. Kinyanjui said research established that the pregnancies were linked to water scarcity. He said as girls left their homes in search for water, they would become pregnant in the process.
“Provision of water is our strategy to fight gender-based violence and even femicide. Women are killed when they go to look for water. This is how we can help our mothers,” the NCCK boss said.
He called on the County Government of Kitui to draw up a marshall plan and to be implemented with partners to ensure homes have piped water to save women from gender-based violence.
Rev. Kinyanjui at the same time lamented the widespread vandalism of water projects installations causing losses running into millions. He urged residents to work with national government administration officers to secure water installations.
“Vandalism is a major problem to projects like the ones we are launching. Kitui county, we are informed, has lost more than 100 million through vandalism,” the NCCK head said.
Kigame said although Help a Child in Africa was not initially into the water sector, it had to change tact after realising that it would not successfully accomplish children-related programmes amidst biting water scarcity.
“We redesigned our programme and went back to our sponsors and told them we initially had an ambition but it was not possible to give children a promising future or make an impact without water,” Kigame said.
He however called on residents to protect and maintain the water projects for posterity with the little income from the sale of water.
