Policy for Vulnerable People

Kenya is facing difficulties in achieving 100% universal access to water and sanitation by 2030 in line with its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals. The Kenyan Constitution recognises the right to clean and safe water in adequate quantities and to reasonable standards of sanitation. However, despite efforts by the government, several parts of the country still suffer water shortages and poor sanitation. Natural disasters, especially floods, and the current COVID-19 pandemic pose urgent threats to the realisation HRWS in the country and in the current scenario, vulnerable people are disproportionately impacted by the lack of water and sanitation.

The Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) is keen on improving the access to water and sanitation in the country and has joined forces with Human Right 2 Water to fight the challenges of implementing the human rights to water and sanitation (HRWS), focusing on Kenya’s North-eastern region.

The project aims primarily to develop a system for establishing human rights-based indicators, that will identify the key challenges that need to be addressed for vulnerable people without access to safe and sustainable water and sanitation. Secondly, we seek to set up a monitoring system, using existing institutions and local communities for collection and distribution of data. Finally, we strive to include local communities in the development and tracking of human rights indicators as a means to increase awareness of their rights and duties, and to increase local ownership of the solutions, especially for vulnerable groups

We acknowledge with thanks, the support from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) for supporting this project, and the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC).