In November 2016, my colleagues and I travelled to Nyalani in Kwale County to witness and bring to the world the story of the transformation of lives in Nyalani area. This was through the rehabilitation of Nyalani dam by M-Pesa Foundation, from a previously small, seasonal non-functional one to a large water body with a capacity of approximately 500m liters. This rehabilitation was to the tune of Ksh207 Million.
The area has been growing since and as at now, about 22,000 residents of Kwale County, which is mostly classified as arid to semi-arid will access water in their homes and farms. This is after M-Pesa Foundation partnered with the Kwale County Government to bring out the full potential of Nyalani.
The KES 15 million project is expected to boost food production by supplying 105 acres of farmland with water for irrigation to ensure food security in the county. The pump will distribute water to homes to promote health and sanitation among residents. Part of the project will enhance agricultural enterprises by provision of farm input such as seeds and tools to farmers in the area following the availability of water from the dam.
“At Safaricom, through our Foundations, we have been able to ensure water availability to communities either on a small scale or a large scale. As M-PESA Foundation, we dedicated ourselves to supporting the residents of Kwale County by rehabilitating the Nyalani Dam which is crucial for the water and agricultural needs of the people,” said Les Baillie, Executive Director, M-PESA Foundation.
The M-PESA Foundation and the Kwale County Government in 2014 implemented an integrated disaster risk reduction project which would address several integral needs including food security, water supply, improved sanitation, hygiene awareness, nutrition awareness, health care interventions as well as economic stimulus through formation of agriculture cooperatives.
The M-PESA Foundation invested KES 231million while the county government contributed KES 25 million to aid in rehabilitation of Nyalani Dam to attain a water storage capacity of approximately 1 million cubic metres for irrigation, domestic and livestock usage.
Other interventions of the project are empowerment of farmers with knowledge and skills through agricultural extension services, creating nutrition and hygiene awareness to improve health outcomes and training various community groups for the sustainability of the project.