Dig Deep | Our Work

Our Work

Bomet County is home to one million people - half of them children - and is renowned for its Olympian runners and world-class coffee and tea. Yet two out of three people here still lack clean water, safe sanitation & good hygiene. We are determined to change this.

Why we're different

We focus in one place, solving one big problem

For over a decade we’ve focused on Bomet County, helping 1 million people unlock lasting access to clean water, safe toilets & good hygiene.

We act today, while planning for tomorrow

We deliver practical projects right now, while driving planning and partnerships that scale what works and ensure water, sanitation and hygiene access lasts for generations.

We put local people in the lead

Government, businesses and communities lead the way. We strengthen their skills and partnerships, so progress is faster, more resilient, and sustained long into the future.

Our Model

Together, we are determined to ensure every child and their family gain lasting access to clean water, safe sanitation & good hygiene. Through investing in planning, projects and partnerships, we will make this vision a reality by 2035 - saving lives, keeping children in school, and empowering women and girls.

The Need

2 out of 3 people in Bomet County don’t have access to clean water, safe sanitation & good hygiene

The Work

We support the creation of county-wide plans needed to reach everyone with clean water, safe sanitation & good hygiene

Planning

and

We deliver high-impact water, sanitation & hygiene projects that reach the children and families most in need, whilst providing blueprints for services that last

Projects

and

We strengthen our government and NGO partners to scale and sustain water, sanitation & hygiene access - and share our learnings nationally and internationally

Partnerships

The Impact

All 1 million residents of Bomet will gain lasting access to clean water, safe sanitation & good hygiene - saving lives, keeping children in school, and empowering women and girls

See how far we've come together

Over the past decade, our partnership with the people and government of Bomet County has transformed what’s possible. Together, we’ve built the foundations for lasting access to clean water, safe sanitation and good hygiene — for every child and every family.

Click below to explore our progress so far in Planning, Projects and Partnerships - and see how these three strands of our work are coming together to drive lasting change across Bomet County.

We supported the creation of the Bomet County Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) Masterplan (2022–2050), a data-driven roadmap that is guiding the county towards universal access to clean water, safe sanitation & good hygiene. This plan has already been instrumental in attracting multiple rounds of World Bank investment.

Lasting access to clean water, safe sanitation & good hygiene for every child and their family is only possible when communities, government, businesses and NGOs are all working from the same roadmap.

When we first began partnering with Bomet, no such roadmap existed. That’s why between 2020–2022 we worked with the County Government to co-create the Bomet County Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Masterplan 2022–2050. The Masterplan:

Sets out a clear pathway to achieve universal WASH access for every resident.
Covers all aspects of WASH, from institutional strengthening to infrastructure development.
Is fully costed and identifies how the required funding can be mobilised.

Between 2023–2025 we then helped the county to develop the Masterplan into two interlinked detailed investment plans:

County Water and Sanitation Strategy and Investment Plan (CWSSIP) 2025–2030 – detailing the investments required over this period across the county.
Performance Action Improvement Plan (PAIP) for the Bomet Water and Sanitation Company (BOMWASCO) 2025-2030 – strengthening the utility’s capacity to deliver.

The development of these plans was a huge undertaking. It required large-scale data collection – including surveys covering all one million residents of the county and mapping every single water source – and the work of bringing together the expertise of communities, government, the private sector and NGOs.

These plans have already enabled the County Government to secure multiple rounds of investment from the World Bank’s Kenya Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (K-WASH) programme – funding they could not otherwise have accessed.

Our planning work both guides and is strengthened by the projects and partnerships we deliver on the ground (see more below).

To date, our school and community projects have reached over 200,000 people with clean water, safe sanitation & good hygiene. These blueprints are now being scaled up through our planning and partnerships to accelerate progress towards universal access.

Despite major progress, the majority of children and their families in Bomet still lack access to clean water, safe sanitation & good hygiene, making it essential to focus investment where it will have the greatest impact.

Our planning work has shown us that, in order to reach those most in need, the three most urgent and impactful projects in Bomet County are:

Schools - Improve access to clean water through rooftop rainwater harvesting; provide safe, high-quality toilets; and deliver high-quality hygiene & menstrual health education.
Communities - Protect all natural springs to secure reliable sources of clean water.
Households - Ensure every family has a toilet and a place to wash their hands, supported by sanitation, hygiene and menstrual health education alongside market-based interventions.

To date, we have directly:

Worked with villages and schools to build 91 rainwater harvesting systems and spring protection projects, which are currently supplying over 51,000 people with clean water.
Worked with 60 schools to build safe, hygienic toilets, providing over 20,000 children every year with a safe space to go to the toilet.
Delivered hygiene and menstrual health education to over 33,000 children and their 124,000 family members.
Worked with 270 villages to help over 97,000 people live in communities where every household has a toilet and a place to wash their hands.

Crucially, as well as reaching those most in need, these projects provide blueprints for services that last, and are now being scaled through our planning and partnership work.

We founded the Bomet Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) Hub, a new government department which provides a “one-stop shop” where government and NGOs share data, coordinate programmes, and access training. Today, the Hub is strengthening government departments, local water and sanitation companies, and the work of other key partners such as the Kenya Red Cross and World Vision to deliver sustainable services.

Lasting change will only be possible when government, the private sector and communities work together to create and sustain universal access to water, sanitation & hygiene for Bomet County’s one million people. However, when we began supporting Bomet County, a key barrier to progress we saw time and again was duplication, competition and inefficiency slowing down the progress everyone wanted to see.

To change this, in 2021 we supported the county government to create the Bomet WASH Hub - a new government department providing a ‘one-stop shop’ for the national government, county government, private sector and NGO partners to:

Share data
Co-ordinate programmes
Provide training

Since its launch, the Bomet WASH Hub has delivered a series of groundbreaking achievements that are transforming how water, sanitation & hygiene services are planned, monitored and funded across the county. This includes:

Monitoring & Evaluation - The Hub has created Bomet’s first digital water, sanitation & hygiene database, tracking household, school and health facility access in real time. This allows leaders to see where needs are greatest and direct resources more effectively, as well as integrating with national and international monitoring systems.
Coordination - The Hub has become the county’s focal point for collaboration, bringing together a wide range of stakeholders - including the County Government, the water and sanitation company and the local teams of the Kenya Red Cross Society and World Vision - ensuring efforts are aligned and impact is amplified.
Training - The Hub runs an ongoing training programme focused on the skills gaps identified in the Bomet County WASH Masterplan. This includes building the capacity of county government and NGO teams, as well as strengthening the private sector. Practitioners from across the county and the wider country regularly attend these sessions, sharing experience and strengthening collaboration.

All the data is now accessible through the Bomet County WASH Data Portal - the publicly available sections of the database can be viewed here.

Impact of water & sanitation

There is a clear evidence base in Kenya and across the globe that investing in clean water and sanitation drives improvement in the key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

By helping children and their families access clean water, safe toilets and good hygiene, your support saves lives, improves health, strengthens livelihoods, empowers women and girls, and ensures communities can thrive.

In Bomet, women and children often spend hours each day fetching dirty water. With reliable water sources closer to home, this time is freed up for education and income-generating activities. Every £1 invested in clean water delivers a return of between £4 and £8.

Clean water and safe toilets are the foundation for better education. For girls in particular, a lack of facilities means missing school during menstruation. By investing in school WASH and menstrual health education, we not only keep girls learning but also promote equality, dignity and opportunities for women to fully participate in society and the economy.

Right now, around 15% of children under five in Bomet suffer from diarrhoea, mostly caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. Because 50% of malnutrition and stunting is linked to these factors, improving WASH access is one of the most effective ways to reduce child illness and undernutrition.

Protecting springs safeguards biodiversity and secures reliable water flows into the Maa River Basin, which sustains ecosystems from Bomet through the Maasai Mara and into Tanzania. Clean water also reduces the need for firewood to boil water, helping to cut deforestation and lower carbon emissions.

To find out more, sign up for our newsletter

School children and teachers by new toilet block