Kenya Sanitation policy update – Government of Kenya Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) Protocol update

Sanitation is a significant challenge in Kenya. The Country did not meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets for sanitation or drinking water. It is estimated that today 70% of Kenya’s population, almost 33 million people, lack access to basic sanitation and 10% practice open defecation, representing 5 million people. Open defecation is largely a rural problem with 15% of the rural population practicing open defecation compared to only 3% of urban residents. The rural sanitation challenge in Kenya goes beyond open defecation: 85% of open defecation takes place in 15 large counties that are mostly in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL)10. At least 10 of these 15 counties have a high proportion of transhumant pastoralists, who are difficult to reach through conventional sanitation interventions.

Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) has been adopted as the core strategy for implementing the Open Defecation Free (ODF) Rural Kenya initiative aiming to achieve ODF Kenya by end of 2020.

CHC partnered with UNICEF and the Ministry of Health to revise the existing CLTS Protocol and related tools; to facilitate the development of context-specific implementation guidelines addressing the various rural sanitation challenges faced; as well as to develop an adapted monitoring framework in an inclusive and participatory manner.

More information to be provided in the next few months