EU to continue funding development projects in Kenya

NAIROBI, KENYA: The European Union has said it will continue funding development projects and Humanitarian aid in the North Eastern part of Kenyan despite the pending relations between Kenya and some of its member states.

Ms Sanne Willems, European Union Programme manager, said that the Union will continue with its projects of delivering access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene promotion in various parts of the country including Machakos, Marsabit, Isiolo Samburu and Turkana counties.

“We as the European Union we are committed to see that the millennium development goals have been achieved through various water projects we have initiated in the country. we will continue to work with various players within the  country to ensure  we have come up with more projects” said Willems

In 2011, the European Commission funded four consortiums in Kenya to the tune of 0.1 billion (EUR8, 519,336) to implement large scale Water, Sanitation and Hygiene projects in 5 underserved Counties in Kenya

The lead organizations for these consortiums were: Plan International, Solidarites International, Danish Red Cross and Oxfam

Willems noted that the use of the grants had since been a success in accelerating progress towards attainment of water and sanitation in the country.

“The grant has been successful in accelerating progress towards attainment of water and sanitation MDGs in Kenya as over 462,016 people have been reached” she reiterated.

The EU programme manager was speaking Wednesday at Boma Hotel, Nairobi when she presided over the 10th European Union Water Facility Grant recipients learning event.

Accompanied by Isiolo Governor, Doyo Godana Adi and stakeholders from the EU, Willems further noted that the water and sanitation programmes are geared at preparing the counties from the upcoming drought predicted to begin later this month.

“June is a drought period and pastoralists’ communities are already facing challenges in terms of access to food and water” said Godana.

He also noted that projects are underway for drilling more boreholes and reinforcing shallow wells as some of the measures to ensure that there is sufficient water supply in the region.

The EU projects that have been running for two years  are aimed to channel surface water and underground water to provide water for the community use since no river in the areas flows throughout the year.

The projects also seeks to educate residents on the importance of maintain hygiene and improving defecation by providing well-structured toilets.