Assessing the effectiveness of locally-led public good climate investments in water infrastructure in Garissa County

This technical brief presents findings from a 2023 longitudinal study assessing five public good climate investments in water infrastructure in Garissa County, Kenya. These investments were implemented between 2015 and 2016 via the County Climate Change Fund (CCCF) mechanism. The study evaluates the technical sustainability and governance of these assets eight years after implementation, highlighting significant challenges regarding funding for maintenance, technical capacity, and institutional engagement.

• A 2023 assessment of five public good climate investments in water infrastructure in Garissa County revealed that three were partially functional and two were non-functional. Notably, two investments that were fully functional in 2019 had become non-functional by 2023.
• The sustainability of water security is threatened by a lack of dedicated funding for the upkeep of existing infrastructure. Current Garissa County Climate Change legislation prioritizes new investments and does not allocate a budget for operations and maintenance (O&M), nor does it include asset management planning or life cycle cost integration.
• There is a significant capacity gap in the management of water investments. Although all visited sites had functioning site committees, very few members possessed the necessary training in operations, maintenance, and facility management.
• Limited engagement with relevant water institutions during the design phase of the investments hindered their subsequent support, as the projects were viewed as being solely community-owned and managed.
• The failure of water infrastructure has led to instances where communities abandoned the non-functional investments, which subsequently resulted in further system deterioration and vandalism of components.
• To improve sustainability, the report recommends several technical and financial interventions: implementing off-grid renewable energy (such as solar-powered pumps) to lower operational costs, ensuring spare parts are available on-site, and updating the Garissa County Water Department's asset management planning system, including GIS mapping.

APA

Jebiwott, A., Osumba, J., Orindi, V., Ododa, K., Magoma, I., Hussein, A., Mohammed, S., Karaho, E., Harikishun, A., & Redda, R. (2024). Assessing the effectiveness of locally-led public good climate investments in water infrastructure in Garissa County. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2024-11/Technical%20Brief_Garissa_FINAL.pdf

Chicago

Jebiwott, Alice, Joab Osumba, Victor Orindi, Kennedy Ododa, Ivy Magoma, Abdi Hussein, Suleiman Mohammed, et al. Assessing the effectiveness of locally-led public good climate investments in water infrastructure in Garissa County. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2024. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2024-11/Technical%20Brief_Garissa_FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{jebiwott2024assessing, author = {Jebiwott, Alice and Osumba, Joab and Orindi, Victor and Ododa, Kennedy and Magoma, Ivy and Hussein, Abdi and Mohammed, Suleiman and Karaho, Esperanza and Harikishun, Ameil and Redda, Robi}, title = {{Assessing the effectiveness of locally-led public good climate investments in water infrastructure in Garissa County}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2024}, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2024-11/Technical%20Brief_Garissa_FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }