CONTRIBUTORS
Alex Manyasi
Policy Engagement Manager
Damaris Khakali
Advocacy Officer
Sanitation may not always make the headlines, but it is one of the most powerful drivers of public health, dignity, and sustainable development. Kenya has made progress, yet millions are still left behind, not because of a lack of policies or players, but because efforts remain fragmented.
At the heart of Kenya’s sanitation challenge is a coordination gap. Multiple ministries, counties, NGOs, development partners, and private actors are all working to improve sanitation, but often in isolation. Strategies are duplicated, data is scattered across different platforms, and resources are stretched thin. This lack of synergy slows progress toward SDG 6.2, undermines efficiency, and leaves vulnerable communities without safe sanitation.
Elevating coordination as a priority is therefore not just a governance reform; it is a life-saving imperative. Stronger coordination would mean clearer roles, shared data, and joint action plans that ensure every shilling spent delivers maximum impact and that no Kenyan citizen is left behind.
The Numbers: Why Coordination Matters
The urgency of Kenya’s sanitation challenge becomes clear in the data below. These figures make it clear: fragmented approaches are failing, and coordinated action is urgently needed.
The Coordination Landscape
Sanitation is multi-sectoral, touching water, health, urban planning, environment, education, and finance. Yet alignment across these sectors remains weak.
- National-Level Actors
- Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation (MoWSI): Oversees sanitation policy, sewer infrastructure, and sanitation management and water–sanitation linkages.
- Ministry of Health (MoH): Leads public health, hygiene promotion, and disease surveillance. Historically, the lead ministry on non-sewered sanitation (systems designed to safely contain, empty, transport, treat, and dispose of or reuse human waste in accordance with public health and environmental standards) and hygiene promotion, the MoH, has deeply rooted structures extending to the grassroots. Collaboration with MoWSI requires deliberate relationship-building.
- Ministry of Education: Ensures school sanitation, hygiene education, and menstrual health management, which are key to both learning outcomes and public health.
- Water Services Regulatory Board (WASREB): Sets service standards, monitors utilities, and regulates tariffs.
- National Environment Management Authority (NEMA): Regulates waste and sludge management, ensuring environmental safeguards.
- County Governments
Under devolution, counties hold responsibility for the last-mile Water and sanitation infrastructure and service delivery. However, capacity, expertise, and resource allocation vary widely across counties.
- Other Stakeholders
NGOs, development partners (e.g., UNICEF, World Bank), private Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) providers, academic and research institutions, and communities play vital roles. Yet coordination with state actors is often ad hoc, leading to duplication or gaps.
Key Coordination Challenges
- Competing Roles: The Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Irrigation (MoWSI) often have overlapping mandates when it comes to sanitation. Historically, the MoH has been responsible for non-sewered sanitation and hygiene promotion, supported by a strong network of public health officers reaching all the way to the community level. On the other hand, MoWSI oversees water and sanitation infrastructure, including utilities managed by County Governments. Without a clear coordination framework between the two ministries, efforts can become fragmented, leading to inefficiencies and blurred accountability. Stronger collaboration and clearer role definition would help ensure that Kenya delivers safe, inclusive, and sustainable sanitation for all.
- Weak County–National Linkages: Coordination between devolved and national levels of government is inconsistently structured, with the official channels largely moribund
- Fragmented Data: Different actors collect their own sanitation data without a unified platform, which undermines evidence-based decision-making .
- Few Multi-Stakeholder Platforms: County-level planning and review forums are scarce or underutilized.
- Vertical Programming by Donors/NGOs: Projects that bypass government systems risk undermining sustainability and ownership.
These cracks reveal why elevating coordination as a core problem is essential—without it, the best policies and programs cannot deliver at scale, and sustainably.
Toward Stronger Coordination: Recent Progress
Kenya has begun addressing these challenges through policy reforms. The Sessional Paper No. 7 of 2024 on National Sanitation Management Policy, developed by MoWSI in partnership with APHRC, provides a framework for improved governance, financing, and cross-sector coordination.
The policy-making process followed deliberate steps:
- Gap Analysis & Benchmarking: Building on AMCOW’s ASPG analysis, which highlighted Kenya’s coordination gaps.
- Stakeholder Mapping: Identifying state and non-state actors, their interests, influence, and roles.
- Policy Issue Identification: Using consultations and root cause analysis to prioritize critical gaps.
- Policy Formulation: Drafting provisions aligned with Kenya’s legal and institutional frameworks.
- Stakeholder Consultations & Public Participation: Bringing together county governments, MDAs, CoG, utilities, academia, NGOs, private sector, development partners, and special interest groups.
- Policy Approval: Parliament approved the policy, and publication and launch are now imminent.
Spotlight on Emerging Best Practices
- Makueni County: Established an interdepartmental sanitation committee linking public health, water, and local entrepreneurs to pilot FSM value chains.
- Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS): Adopted a taskforce model combining infrastructure upgrades, behavior change, and FSM services in informal settlements.
These examples demonstrate that when coordination frameworks are functional, tangible improvements follow.
Final Thoughts
Kenya has the right policies, the right players, and growing momentum. What remains is disciplined implementation and active use of coordination mechanisms. For sustainability, the next step should be amendments to the Water Act to align with and operationalize the National Sanitation Management Policy by explicitly prioritizing sanitation. The amendment should clearly define institutional roles for sanitation service delivery across national and county governments, establish dedicated and sustainable financing mechanisms, and regulate the whole sanitation service chain from containment to safe disposal/reuse.
With clearer roles, open data sharing, and consistent stakeholder dialogue, Kenya can move from fragmentation to collaboration, strengthening both County and National capacity, ensuring accountability, and advancing climate-resilient, equitable sanitation services. This collective approach will not only accelerate progress toward SDG 6.2 and the constitutional right to sanitation but also lay the foundation for a more integrated, sustainable, and dignified sanitation ecosystem for all.