KEWI Partners once more with GATSBY Africa
Kenya Water Institute (KEWI) Chief Executive Officer Dr. Leiro Letangule and Mr. Wario Bonaya, Programme Director for Water, Gatsby Africa signed a funding agreement that seeks to facilitate the establishment of a Centre of Excellence in Non-Revenue Water (NRW) training, Research, and Innovation Water Sector at KEWI Main Campus in Nairobi. The Grant will also see KEWI collaborate with the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Netherlands to help fast track the success of the partnership.
Dr. Letangule expressed his gratitude for the collaboration and pledged to take all necessary steps to assure success.
“KEWI takes this collaboration seriously and will fulfill its obligations and make sure this agreement succeeds. We view this as one of the attempts to create pathways and chances for greater things.
On his side, Mr. Wario expressed his optimisms for the partnership and said that he was looking forward to full commitment to what is written down. While anticipating that the partnership is expected to result in a significant reduction of NRW losses in the Kenyan water sector through increased awareness of the problem and through the transfer of skills and knowledge from KEWI to water utilities, he implored that signing of an extended agreement by April 2024 by the two partners will consequently accomplish the partnership's goal of enhancing KEWI's capabilities.
“The objective of this collaboration is to facilitate KEWI to strengthen the system for the delivery of skills, innovations, and research for the better performance of water companies in Kenya. “ He said
The Centre will specialize in the provision of high-quality NRW training as well as research in the Water Sector. As part of this, Gatsby Africa will assist KEWI to up skill the key personnel involved in NRW management at KEWI, strengthen the diagnostic and analytical capacity of KEWI’s laboratories and workshops as well enhancing the capacity of the research unit to undertake high-quality ongoing research in water services delivery.
Prior to this partnership, KEWI worked with Gatsby Africa to train seven water utilities. The collaboration which began on a small basis, a year ago saw the institute train 287 trainees from 7 water companies in the initial phase.