The Lake Region Economic Bloc and USAID Western Kenya Sanitation Project have signed a Sh2.8 billion deal to address hygiene challenges.
The counties that make up LREB are Bungoma, Busia, Homa Bay, Kakamega, Kisii, Kisumu, Migori and Siaya.
The partnership will create a financially sustainable, transformative, replicable and locally owned sanitation and menstrual hygiene marketplace.
About $3 million (Sh361.4 million) will be spent in the eight counties.
The project will run for five years.
USAID Western Kenya Sanitation Project chief of party Paul Orengoh said the collaboration will strengthen market-based sanitation and menstrual health management.
He said choosing the eight counties was intentional and informed by several factors.
They include counties with near similar geographical but near cultural features, counties where the impacts of sanitation and menstrual hygiene management interventions or lack of any intervention permeate into another.
Orengoh said this was to ensure their intervention in one county is not impeded by a lack of interventions in the nearest county.
“This formalisation marks the beginning of coordinated efforts in these counties to address market-based sanitation and support them to climb the sanitation ladder through increased access to sanitation facilities,” he said.
Orengoh said they will work with the county's private sector and all the stakeholders involved to build a stronger value chain system for menstrual hygiene and management products.
“Sanitation and menstrual hygiene come with several sociocultural issues. Part of the collaboration will see us mount a very targeted social behaviour change communication campaign, that will help demystify some of the issues surrounding the matter,” he said.
LREB chief executive officer Victor Nyagaya said the programme will impact households and cities.
“Public health is a serious component of our livelihood in terms of health,” he said.
Nyagaya said the programme will enhance and improve public-related healthcare matters.
“We thank our partners and as LREB, we will support and facilitate the participation of the programme in counties,” he said.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
