Securing safe water to 55,000 people in rural Kenya
Besides reaching out to rural Kenyans, the Foundation wishes to bring facts to the table in the discussions on effects of groundwater pumping.

“Kenya 23 – next level” is a revisit and expansion of the “Kenya 23” project (2014), which again was a revisit and repair project reaching out to communities that had received a water system as a gift from Grundfos in 2005. In Kenya, the Foundation’s strategic partner, Water Mission, works directly with communities and local government to ensure technical, social and financial sustainability in each water project.

"The success of the Kenya 23 project showed the impact that solar powered water supply systems can have. The improved living conditions will lead to improved health of the community which could ultimately lead to greater economic output in the community. "
Nils Thorup, Programme Manager for Water, Poul Due Jensen Foundation

Important lessons from the past shape our work

In 2005, Grundfos celebrated its 60th anniversary. A sum was donated to Unicef at the occasion and with this money the NGO built 23 water systems in rural communities across Kenya.

  • In 2014, the Foundation learned that many of the water systems had failed and we therefore asked Water Mission Kenya to revisit each system in order to assess and repair the systems and work with the communities to build technical, social and financial resilience.
  • In 2017, we had a new report made to assess the situation. The report was positive but also pointed out a few problems that needed to be addressed.

Another important lesson from Kenya is to not spread yourself out too thinly across a country. New projects will therefore be established in neighbouring communities to existing projects in order to build knowledge, awareness and make service more easily available in each area.

Headcount: More children attend school in Cheptiangwa as they no longer have to walk far to fetch water since the community water system is in place

Kenya 23 – Next level

  • The 23 original water systems will be quality assessed, repaired and expanded where possible.
  • 8 of the original projects will have their distribution systems improved with expanded access and new tap stands.
  • 16 new communities will get a water system.
  • All of the original 23 systems will add monitoring of water usage and level sensors in the boreholes to document environmental sustainability. Critics of groundwater pumping often say that it lowers the groundwater level, but we wish to collect data in order to document whether or not this is true.

The data is transmitted via satellite communication and then stored on Water Mission’s cloud based remote monitoring system. The data from the monitoring programme will be used to build better designed systems for new communities in the future. The data will also be used to assess baseline management skills, community well-being, and WASH behaviours.

Safe Water

With its partners, the Poul Due Jensen Foundation brings safe water to the world's poorest in rural communities and forgotten refugee camps.

Kenya Refugee Alliance

Partner

UNHCR, PlanBørnefonden

Disaster
response

Partner

Oxfam GB, Water Mission, WaterAid, Practical Action, UNICEF Denmark

Project Flow

Partner

UNHCR

100 pumps for 100 villages

Partner

Sunlit Future

Water for Kigoma Region

Partner

UNICEF Denmark

Water and sanitation for Gambella (SunWASH)

Partner

PlanBørnefonden, Water Mission

Low Cost Sanitation and Water Model in Pakistan

Partner

Orangi Pilot Project Research and Training Institute

Water Safe Cities

Partner

C40

Safe water and sanitation in Togo

Partner

PlanBørnefonden

Safe Water for Northern Burundi (closed)

Partner

Kirkens Nødhjelp (Norwegian Church Aid)

Safe water to Malawi (closed)

Partner

Practical Action

Nyarugusu Refugee Camp

Partner

Water Mission