Organization and Performance of Water Resource Users’ Associations in the Southern Rangelands of Kenya
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Date
2018Author
Koech, Ok
Jawuoro, So
Karuku, GN
Mbau, JS
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Water insecurity is a threat to pastoral livelihoods and sustainability. The Water Act of Kenya, 2002, created the
Water Resource Users’ Associations (WRUAs) to enhance water resource conservation access at the local level.
Nevertheless, environmental degradation has increased in recent times, further exacerbating water crisis and
threatening livelihoods. This study sought to assess the status of community based water resource conservation in the
Southern rangelands of Kiserian, Kajiado County, Kenya. Kiserian WRUA members were purposively sampled for
this survey. Data was mainly collected through administration of a semi-structured questionnaire. Focus group
discussions and key informant interviews were also conducted to validate the data obtained from the questionnaire.
Chi-square and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data using SPSS version 20. Results indicated that
access to information on water conservation and training were significantly associated, with membership to the
WRUA (χ2=0.56, p≤0.05) and (χ
2=0.71, p≤0.05), respectively. Majority (79.5%) of the Kiserian WRUA members
had participated in tree planting within the catchment. Half (50%) of the WRUA members were mainly motivated to
join the association because of perceived benefits like improved access to water at lower prices and participation in
catchment protection. The main challenges facing the WRUA were inadequate funding from the government and
other stakeholders (93.2%) and lack of support from county leadership (34.1%). It was concluded that WRUAs,
especially in the rangelands of Kajiado, Kenya, played a key role in catchment conservation and water access for
resilient livelihoods among pastoralists. This study therefore recommends awareness to increase WRUA membership
and allocation of sufficient funding from the government and other related stakeholders to WRUA conservation
activities, if catchment conservation for improved water access in the area is to be realized.
URI
https://profiles.uonbi.ac.ke/oscarkip/publications/organization-and-performance-water-resource-users%E2%80%99-associations-southern-rangehttp://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/153572
Citation
Jawuoro SO, Koech OK, Karuku GN, Mbau JS. "Organization and Performance of Water Resource Users’ associations in the Southern Rangelands of Kenya." Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems. 2017;20 (3):401-4011.Publisher
University of Nairobi
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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