Maji na Ufanisi helps communities lead better lives by giving them the skills to solve water, environmental and sanitation problems, and at the same time to make a living out of it. In the process, skills, knowledge, finances, social networks and relationships are developed which generate further economic activities and empowers them to make decisions about their future, which in turn translates to better health, education and the voice to advocate for their basic rights.
Maji na Ufanisi’s mission is to improve the quality of life of the disadvantaged. We do this through improving access to basic services like safe water and environmental sanitation. WES services are an entry point, and communities are then able to address other issues that affect them.
Lack of access to basic services is a consequence of poverty and poverty exacerbates lack of access. MnU’s approach is to improve services, since the link between poverty and services is widely recognised. In the MDGs Goal 7, the aim is to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water; and by 2020 to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of 100 million slum dwellers.
Communities are given life skills as well as small trade skills during implementation of projects.
During construction Capacity Building of target communities is carried out. Members trained can then earn a living from the skills imparted. Target communities are also trained in issues relating to operations and maintenance of the facilities under construction. Besides MnU endeavours to recruit all construction workers from benefiting communities. The Technical Team is continually introducing available appropriate technologies to communities we work with. This is a value Engineering process which endeavours to reduce project costs while maintaining high Standards of Engineering and utility.
Provision of Water and Environmental Sanitation is provided as a social enterprise. Communities are able to make returns that they can then plough back into the community. Some groups have bigger dreams of investing in land outside the slums. Such CBOs like Kiambiu Usafi Group, have saving schemes, from which they build capital base amongst themselves. Some community based groups are using waste to generate an income. Taka ni Pato is such an initiative.While others like Ushirika wa Usafi have day care schools.
While international environmental concerns are often expressed in broad terms such a desertification or climatic change, the environmental problems of concern to vulnerable groups in marginal areas are generally quite localized in nature, revolving around immediate issues, such as the degradation of a particular rangeland or soil erosion on farmland or the progressive shortening of fallow. These affect the poor because they are directly related to household food security. Degradation of the resource base generally translates into decreases in production or income and thus in the availability of food. This is evident in the Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASALs) in Kenya, where MnU has had its programs. With construction of earth dams and protection of springs, coupled with increased water harvesting, communities are able to survive much longer in one place without having to relocate in search of pasture and water. Children can stay in school for longer periods.
Maji an Ufanisi in its projects reduces the vulnerability of the marginalized of becoming both agents and victims of environmental degradation.