Restoring Water, Restoring Hope in Kyuso, Kitui County

Eunice Nzioka, Beneficiary, Kitui County

For Eunice Nzioka and many women in Kimela village, a broken borehole did not simply mean a lack of water. It meant long, exhausting walks, sleepless nights, and worry for the families left waiting at home.

Whenever the community borehole broke down, life became difficult almost immediately. Families were forced to search for water elsewhere, often travelling long distances under the scorching Kitui sun.

Eunice remembers those days vividly.

"When the borehole near our homes breaks down, we suffer a lot. We have to walk very many kilometres to fetch water," she says.

The burden fell hardest on women and girls, who are often responsible for collecting water for their households.

"The women really suffer, especially those with young children. Some leave their breastfeeding children at home to go fetch water and only return at around 10 p.m. or even 11 p.m. The children end up suffering a lot," Eunice recalls.

For elderly women, the challenge was even greater.

"The elderly women fail to manage that long journey," she says.

A simple breakdown could leave families without a reliable source of water for weeks or even months. Time that could have been spent caring for children, tending farms, running businesses, or attending school was instead spent searching for water.

A woman collects unsafe water from a shallow sand pit.

Today, that story is changing.

Through a Results-Based Financing approach supported by the Water Services Maintenance Trust Fund (WSMTF) and its partners, through their implementing partner FundiFix - a Water Service Provider (WSP), communities such as Kimela are experiencing faster repairs and more reliable water services.

Instead of waiting for long periods, when a borehole breaks down, communities can report faults and receive rapid maintenance support that restores water services quickly.

For Eunice, the difference has been life-changing.

"Since FundiFix and their partners WSMTF came in, when the borehole breaks down, they come very fast and repair it. We are so grateful. Thank you, WSMTF and FundiFix."

Behind every repaired water point is a mother who no longer has to leave home before dawn in search of water. It is a child who can stay in school. It is an elderly person spared from a long and difficult journey. It is a community able to focus on building livelihoods rather than coping with constant water interruptions.

FundiFix Team repairing a borehole.

The partnership between WSMTF and FundiFix demonstrates that sustainable water access is not only about building infrastructure—it is also about ensuring that water systems continue to work when communities need them most.

Since 2017, WSMTF and its implementing partners like FundiFix have supported the delivery of more than 866 million litres of safe water, reached over 86,000 rural water users, and facilitated more than 4,363 repair interventions, while maintaining approximately 99% repair completion within two days.

For communities like Kimela, these numbers represent something far more important than statistics. They represent water flowing from a tap, children cared for at home, women spared exhausting journeys, and the dignity that comes with knowing that when a water system breaks down, help is only a phone call away.