This Story of Impact is part of our United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) feature series. Download our latest report on the SDG Giving Landscape.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The 17 SDGs are integrated—they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
These six Stories of Impact feature the top three most funded and bottom three least funded SDGs by CAF America donors. More information can be found in our SDG Giving Landscape Report released in January 2024.
In an effort to achieve clean water and sanitation for all people in their communities, PS Kenya leverages private sector capabilities to improve public health and sanitation and provide access to safe water. Currently around 40% of the Kenyan population does not have access to safe drinking water, less than a third of people (29%) have access to fundamental sanitation facilities, and 9.9 million individuals rely on contaminated surface water sources. Since 2022, CAF America has supported over $426,000 in grants to PS Kenya, contributing to clean water initiatives such as their Safe Water Drinking Project and other programs that provide water treatment solutions to the population without clean, safe drinking water.
PS Kenya’s approach to making clean water more accessible is rooted in deploying private sector expertise in marketing, sales, and distribution to make socially marketed brands of safe and treated water, such as Trust and WaterGuard, accessible to their target consumers. This ensures that consumers have the information and means to make informed health choices about their drinking water while conveniently accessing these vital products through retail outlets.
“Through the support of CAF America grants, PS Kenya has successfully implemented sustainable initiatives to distribute safe water solutions to our partner organizations. This collaboration has significantly improved the delivery of safe and clean drinking water to our target communities. These grants not only empower PS Kenya to complement the ongoing efforts of the Government of Kenya but also play a crucial role in responding to emergency situations in water-deficient communities. Together, we strive to mitigate the challenges associated with providing clean and safe drinking water to vulnerable communities.”
—Timothy Wambugu
Senior Manager of National Sales, PS Kenya
One of the initiatives CAF America and our donors supported is a project to distribute water treatment products at the community level; the project transformed access to clean drinking water across Kenya, significantly improving public health and creating a substantial reduction in waterborne diseases. In addition to supplying treatment products, PS Kenya provided educational materials and talks on hand washing in schools across Kenya to encourage the early adoption of healthy sanitation habits. In the featured picture above, Liz, a student from Nyaburi Integrated Primary School, demonstrates how to hand wash at the national #GlobalHandwashingDay2022 event, hosted by PS Kenya in Homabay County.
In addition to clean water and sanitation initiatives, PS Kenya has over 30 years of experience focused on social and behavior change, social marketing, and franchising. They often collaborate with Kenya’s Ministry of Health to address a variety of other public health priorities, including HIV & TB, Malaria, Reproductive Health, Maternal Health, Child Health, Nutrition, and Non-Communicable Diseases. PS Keyna’s Accelerate Projects community model integrates the use of community health promoters and CBOs, where each CBO conducts 15 monthly educational sessions on gender-based violence and sexual reproductive health and rights, with five sessions targeting women, five targeting youth, and five targeting men and cultural leaders.
PS Kenya strives to enhance health markets for consumers, promoting the adoption and maintenance of healthy behaviors while increasing access to and demand for high-quality health products and services. By contributing to these initiatives in addition to their work on clean water and sanitation, PS Kenya is creating healthier, safer, stronger, and happier communities for hundreds of thousands of people across Kenya.
Download the SDG Giving Landscape Report here, and learn more about the great work done by organizations we support by viewing our other Stories of Impact.