Communication Strategy for the Water Sector Reform Program in Kenya

Executive Summary

"The Water Act 2002 provides the framework for implementation of reforms aimed at enhancing water resources management (WRM) and the provision of water supply and sanitation (WSS) services on a sustainable basis. The reforms taking place are the single greatest change in the water sector in Kenya since independence. These changes will have a far-reaching impact on the way that WSS and WRM are managed in this country. They also have the potential of generating resistance at a political and/or social level if not communicated effectively.

This Communication Strategy provides the broad framework that guides communication on the reforms and identifies the issues that need to be addressed to build understanding and generate support for the reforms. These issues were identified through a situation analysis conducted at the initial stages of the process of developing this strategy.

The issues include:

• Low levels of awareness and misconceptions of the reforms including fears that reform will result in increased cost of water, loss of revenue by local authorities, job losses among sector staff, poor people lacking access to water, and exploitation from the private sector.
• Most of the people who are aware of reforms are generally positive about them.
• Relatively high consumer dissatisfaction with current performance of water and sewerage services.
• Strong customer understanding of the need for responsible use of water and accountability for payment of water consumption.
• Low conservation practices at community level, although the majority of the people believe that water conservation is important, and they recognize their role in managing water resources.
• Low understanding of water scarcity in Kenya, and the link between adequate water and sanitation and the health and wealth of the nation.
• Poor overall coverage of water issues by the media.

To effectively address these issues, this Communication Strategy seeks to:

• Increase awareness, improve knowledge and build support for water sector reforms among key stakeholders.
• Promote positive water and sanitation management and conservation practices among all key stakeholders.

To achieve the above objectives, the following strategies will be employed:

• Fast-tracking internal communication activities to address staff concerns and build support for reforms within MWRMD.
• Establishing public participation mechanisms that provide information sharing platforms to engage opinion leaders and implementation partners as information disseminators, and to feed back stakeholder views in a process of two-way communication.
• Developing and implementing a branded, phased multi-media communication program to increase knowledge on the reforms and motivate key stakeholders to adopt positive WSS and WRM practices.
• Leveraging the media as a program advocacy partner in the coverage of the reforms, and WSS and WRM issues.
• Strengthening the communications capacity of MWRMD and institutions under the Water Act 2002 to implement the Communication Strategy effectively.

This program will be implemented over a period of three years. The first phase will focus on reform communication, and the second phase will focus on longer-term behavior change communication on WSS and WRM issues."