Community Water Projects Sustainability for Climate Change Resilience and Adaptation in Suam Catchment Area of West Pokot County, Kenya

Managing water resources still remains a challenge to most of the players in the water sector. This is even made worse by climate change impacts that are experienced globally in the recent past. It is evident in most parts of the African continent that women and young children shoulder the burden of providing water to the family. This leaves them with little time for other demanding day-to-day assignments. The study sought to analyze how Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) advances the Sustainability of Community water projects in the Suam Catchment area of West Pokot County. The study looked at the governance structure, steps that are taken in developing capacities in Community water projects, mechanisms that are used in monitoring and implementing Community water projects in relation to sustainability in the Suam Catchment Area of West Pokot County. The sample was drawn from the staff of Kerio Valley Development Authority, Ministry of Water, Environment and Natural Resources, County Government of West Pokot, Water Resources Management Authority, Kapenguria Water and Sanitation Company, Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources Users Associations, and local people all are stakeholders. Purposive sampling, as well as simple random sampling, was used. The sample composed of 96 respondents, the sample was evenly distributed with 12 persons per group. The study found that the leadership and management of community water projects were vested in appointed/elected leaders (45%) and water officers (16%). The findings indicated that 60% of the respondents had been trained on water usage and management. It was also clear that 53.8% of the respondents had never had access to IWRM policy documents even though 61.3% had been involved in the monitoring and implementation of community water projects in the area. In the ranking of the Integrated Water Resource Management policy factors, consideration of climate resilience and adaptation was ranked first (3.28), water-related information gathering was ranked second (3.14), monitoring and evaluation were ranked third (3.13), engagement with local communities was ranked fourth (3.08). The study recommends that there is an urgent need for community sensitization on climate change, climate resilience, and adaptation in the context of sustainability of the Community water projects.