Our Impact
GPFD Impact in Kenya
2021-2022 Projects
Lake Primary School
Lake Primary is a large school located in Homabay town (Central Ward). The school serves 1,100 students (56 with special needs) and has 30 teachers. Many of the special needs students are vision-impaired, and a nonprofit called SightSavers supports many of their visual-learning needs. The local government recently completed four new classrooms which demonstrates their commitment to the school. After realizing that significant needs remained, they reached out to GPFD requesting partnership.
After meeting with school and local leaders and assessing the site, our team proposed a four block latrine project (two doors each for ECD/preschool and teachers and four doors each for girls and boys). The school’s current latrines are inadequate to meet its large population and several of them are full. The ECD (preschool) students don’t have a latrine block and are sharing with primary school students.
Utajo Primary School
Due to the success of our initial partnership (new classrooms) and in light of the significant needs  remaining at the school, our team in Kenya proposed a secondary project at this school that serves 454  students and has 13 teachers. This project is providing three latrine blocks and a rainwater harvesting  system. The current girls’ latrine is full, and the boys are sharing a block with the new secondary school  on the campus. They also do not have sufficient water at the school.
Kibugu Primary School
Kibugu Primary was founded in 1954, is located in Rachuonyo Constituency, and serves 280 students  with 10 teachers. This project consists of constructing two new classrooms and four blocks of latrines.  Although several of the school’s classrooms are incomplete, the ones for grades 1 and 2 are  structurally unsound and dangerous. They are made from iron sheets, are poorly ventilated, the floors  consist of stones and dirt, and the two classes are not adequately separated.Â
The latrines are also in bad shape and almost full. The ECD (preschool) students currently have no  latrines, and the recent rains and accompanying rising water levels have amplified the latrine problems  at the school.
Agage Primary School
Agage Primary is a relatively large primary school located in Siaya County that was established in the  1970s. Latrines and classrooms were identified as the most significant needs at Agage Primary. The  boys’ and teachers’ latrines are structurally unsound, and they are short six classrooms. Grades 1 and  2 conduct class under the trees, Grade 3 uses a makeshift iron sheet classroom, and Grade 4 uses an incomplete church near the school. The school also lacks water and fencing, but latrines and  classrooms were prioritized when our team met with Agage.Â
Daraja Primary School
Daraja Primary is located in Homabay County, near the border of Kisumu County. The latrines and  classrooms were in very poor condition. There was only one complete classroom in use for the  students, and none of the latrines were safe. The project called for installing four blocks of latrines and  building two new classrooms.Â
SIWINDHE/JAM Mentorship Camp
The two-day camp was held during the October school holidays and aimed to improve school drop-out  rates and combat teenage pregnancy. This was a shorter duration than past camps due to the Kenyan  government consolidating school holidays this year to make up for past COVID closures. The camp  included 400 girls and 400 boys selected from grade 8 classes throughout the region. Dora Okeyo  attended one day of camp to observe the program. We are continuing to work with SIWINDHE/JAM to  brainstorm ways to increase their impact and grow as an organization.
Obalwanda Primary School
Obalwanda Primary School is located in the Suba North Constituency along the coast of Lake  Victoria. The school is in the village of Kodemba, which consists of approximately 300 households.  The main livelihoods in the community include small-scale training, fishing, farming, and boda  boda businesses. Currently, the school has no source of water. Water is collected from a pond  located 1.3km away, they pay for water to be delivered by donkey carts, or students bring water from home.Â
This project builds off an existing water project (borehole) that was established in 1986. The  existing pump is operable but insufficient to pump the water to the proposed distribution points. We  are using the majority of the existing infrastructure and will integrate a new solar-powered booster  pump next to the borehole. This is an exciting development for GPFD as it will be the first time we  will be using an above-ground solar booster pump, which will be much more cost-effective than the  solar-powered submersible pump we originally considered using.Â
Kitare Primary School
Prior to partnership, the majority of Kitare’s classrooms were made of iron sheets with dirt floors. The one permanent classroom was incomplete and bricks are falling from the walls. The school is located in an area with a significant amount of foot traffic but lacked fencing. The community identified a number of potential projects and ultimately decided to construct two new classrooms, install fencing, and provide desks and tables for the preschool classroom.
Ogande Special School
Ogande Special School is a special needs school located in the Rangwe Constituency. They teach traditional academic classes but also have a vocational program focusing on skills such as bead work, haircutting, carpentry, and cobbling. The school suffered from a lack of clean water, which was a critical challenge at this school due to the students’ disabilities. GPFD partnered with the school to provide a rainwater harvesting system and handwashing stations.
Ogut Ambare
The boys’ latrines at Ogut Ambare Primary School were nearly full and sinking, and the girls did not have an adequate number of latrines. Students collected water from Lake Victoria, which presented both health (contaminated water) and safety (hippos and crocodiles) concerns. GPFD partnered with the school and community, located on Rusinga Island, to construct new sanitation blocks, install a rainwater harvesting system, and provide six foot operated handwashing stations.
Oseno Primary School
Before Oseno Primary School was founded in 2002, children were unable to go to school when it rained as the route to the next closest school became impassable. Last year, the entire school was using a three door latrine block that was full and slowly sinking. The community dug pits and completed a slab before running out of funds. GPFD’s technical team worked diligently to determine how best to build off what had already been done and successfully completed the super structure for the 11 doors of latrines and installed six handwashing stations.
Utajo Primary School
Utajo’s classrooms were officially condemned, and the community decided to build two new classrooms. Due to the success of the initial project, the investments the community has continued to make in the school, and the significant needs that remain, GPFD will partner with Utajo again next year on a secondary project.
Ringa Girls Secondary School
Ringa Girls Secondary is a public boarding school that serves 639 girls in the Kasipul Constituency of western Kenya. The school was founded in 2003 and has 25 teachers. Before GPFD’s involvement, the school lacked an adequate number of dorms, latrines, and washing rooms (for bathing). The girls were housed in three dorms containing over 200 girls per dorm, and they had started using triple decker bunk beds due to the lack of space.
Â
2021-2022 Projects
Omiro Secondary School
Omiro had an inadequate number of latrines, no place for the boarding students to bathe, and the school lacked handwashing stations. This project funded latrines, showers, and handwashing stations.
Mawego Primary School
Mawego Primary School is located in Upper Kobuya Village in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. The school was founded in 1951 and serves 242 students (94 boys, 111 girls, and 37 ECD/preschool). When GPFD met with school and community leaders, they identified latrines as their top priority. The school currently has one toilet block with 10 doors of latrines that is being shared by girls, boys, and teachers. This block was provided by the community and was intended to be for boys. The girls’ block has collapsed, and the teachers’ block is full and in danger of collapsing. The project called for constructing three toilet blocks and six handwashing stations.
Mawego Primary School
The local government recently completed a rainwater harvesting project at Mawego Primary and renovated two classrooms, but the school had significant needs beyond what they were able to provide. GPFD met with school and community leaders who identified latrines as their top priority. The school had just one toilet block that was being shared by girls, boys, and teachers. In response, GPFD constructed three toilet blocks for girls, teachers, and ECD students (preschool) and provided six handwashing stations.
Nyakach Primary School
Latrines were prioritized as the top priority by Nyakach Primary and the local community. GPFD constructed four toilet blocks for girls, boys, teachers, and ECD students with two doors per block. Six handwashing stations were also provided. The school hopes that the new, private latrines will increase female enrollment.
Nyakweri Primary School
Students at Nyakweri Primary School, located on Mfangano Island in the eastern part of Lake Victoria, collected water from the lake, which is dangerous and takes time away from learning in the classroom. The number of latrines was inadequate for the school’s population, and one of the latrine blocks was sinking. GPFD installed a rainwater harvesting system to provide a source of clean water and new latrine blocks. A washing station for menstruating girls was included as well as a private washing area for teachers who live at the school.
Sing’enge Primary School
Sing’enge Primary School is located in a hardship region of Ndihiwa Sub County. The school’s latrines had large cracks in the floors, the wood was rotting, and the structures were beginning to sink, posing a danger to the school’s students and teachers. This project provided new latrines, a private washing room for girls, and six handwashing stations.
King’ii Primary School
King’ii Primary had no working latrines, and several of the latrines had collapsed. The community is very invested in the school and attempted to construct new latrines. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the soil and lack of technical expertise, the project failed. GPFD partnered with the school to construct toilets for boys, girls, preschoolers, and teachers using SanPlat technology to mitigate against the poor soil conditions at the site.
Adita Primary School
Adita Primary School is located in a hardship area and is one of the oldest schools in the region. The school had no working latrines, and they had all been officially condemned. In response, GPFD partnered with the school and its community to build four new latrine blocks for students and teachers and provided handwashing stations to promote good hygiene.
Community COVID-19 Awareness and Prevention
Global Partners partnered with a community-based organization (Society Empowerment Project) and four health clinics in western Kenya to install 200 handwashing stations at 100 sites – including 50 to accommodate children and 50 to accommodate people with physical disabilities – and disseminate accurate public health information on the prevention of COVID-19.
Homabay Primary School
Homabay Primary is a very large primary school serving 1750 students and 47 teachers. GPFD was approached for partnership during the national lockdown of schools due to COVID-19, and the school’s leaders were concerned that they were not going to be allowed to reopen due to the hazardous condition of its latrines. In response, GPFD constructed 16 doors of SanPlat latrines, repaired the teachers’ toilets, and provided handwashing stations.
Kaswanga Primary School
The latrines at Kaswanga Primary School presented a significant danger to the students. To make the toilets safe and sustainable, GPFD constructed SanPlat latrines for girls, boys, teachers, and preschool students. The trapezoidal blocks used in the SanPlat design will help guard against the latrines collapsing in the future.
Matata Hospital COVID-19 Relief
In response to COVID-19, Global Partners provided a grant to fund medical supplies, including disposable gowns, disposable gloves, masks, hand sanitizer, liquid soap, head caps, and infrared thermometers, for Matata Hospital.
2019-2020 Projects
Bedie Primary School
Due to severe water scarcity in the area, Bedie Primary School was frequently forced to use contaminated water. The school had unsafe classrooms that overheated, leaked, and harvested bug infestations and also had an inadequate number of latrines. The community came together and decided to construct two new classrooms, install a rainwater harvesting system to provide clean water, and construct a sanitation block to provide safe latrines.
Eddie Memorial Primary School
The community around Eddie Memorial are nomadic fisher-folk. This school had two permanent classrooms, one of which was incomplete. The rest of the classrooms were made of iron sheets. After meeting with Global Partners to discuss how to increase student attendance at the school, the community decided to construct three new classrooms that are safe and conducive to learning.
Kakrigu Mfangano Primary School
This primary school is uniquely located on Mfangano Island on Lake Victoria in Kenya. GPFD partnered with the community to improve the learning conditions for students by constructing four safe and structurally sound classrooms to replace makeshift classrooms made out of old iron sheets. With the construction of latrines, students have improved access to safe and hygienic sanitation facilities as well.
Kuge Primary School
Kuge Primary School was built on rocky ground that slopes toward Lake Victoria and is susceptible to sliding rocks. The community decided to construct two new modern classrooms that are safe and conducive to learning, to renovate one classroom that posed a structural risk to the students and teachers, and to construct a security fence.
Nyamanga Primary School
Nyamanga Primary School is located near Lake Victoria and was set up to serve fishermen’s children. This project replaced roofs that had been lost due to high winds in five classrooms, provided an additional new classroom, added modern and suitable latrines for the collapsible soils, and installed a rainwater harvesting system to provide clean water.
Nyamuga Primary School
At Nyamuga Primary School and Nyamuga Special School, 228 students lacked handwashing facilities and collected unsafe water from Lake Victoria for drinking. In partnership with the local community and government, GPFD drilled a borehole to distribute clean water to the primary school, special school for children with disabilities, and the community.
Nyawawa Primary School
Before GPFD partnered with Nyawawa, the school had no working latrines whatsoever, and several of the latrines had collapsed. GPFD constructed sanitation units for the school using SanPlat technology to mitigate against the poor soil conditions and prevent future collapse. The community also now possesses the knowledge to construct SanPlat latrines to improve the safety and sustainability of latrines on a household basis.
Waondo Primary School
With 187 students, a lack of clean water, and just three complete classrooms, the Waondo Primary School has suffered from low student attendance rates. To address this challenge, GPFD partnered with community members to connect the school with clean water to via a new pipeline and completely renovate five classrooms.
Waringa Primary School
Waringa Primary School serves 309 students with just two complete classrooms and six incomplete classrooms. The rusted and dilapidated iron sheets that made up the school’s preschool classrooms posed a severe hazard to its youngest students. Global Partners and the Waringa community renovated four classrooms and constructed a new 3-in-1 preschool classroom to provide a safe learning environment and bolster attendance.
Sanitation Improvement Projects
Simbi, Buru Atego, Luora, and Pap Kamathayo Primary Schools are public primary schools serving villages in western Kenya that received sanitation improvements to make their handwashing stations and latrines safe and functional.
Wamwanga Primary School
The Wamwanga community are fisher-folk, and their livelihood is dependent on Lake Victoria. GPFD partnered with the school and community to construct three classrooms to replace the iron sheet structures that were prone to overheating and posed a tetanus threat to both students and teachers.
2018-2019 Projects
Buru Atego Primary School
Global Partners and Buru Atego Primary School partnered to build three new classrooms and latrines.
Luora WASH Project
A borehole well, solar-powered pump, community water kiosk, and sanitation facilities were constructed in Luora to provide relief to its over 9,000 residents and nearly 1,000 primary and secondary school students.
Nyang’ao Primary School Shallow Well
Construction of a shallow well that serves the primary school and community (approximately 2,500 people) and sanitation facilities for the primary school.
Omindi Schools Shallow Well
Students and community members were using water from open wells. A shallow well was constructed, providing clean water to Omindi Primary and Secondary School students and 320 households.
Pap Kamathayo WASH
Before the heavy rains arrived last spring, Global Partners joined with Pap Kamathayo to extend and renovate the primary school’s rainwater harvest system and the construct new latrines.
Simbi WASH Project
This project addressed the urgent need for sanitary facilities at a school of 580 students by constructing latrines, urinals, a washroom, and handwashing stations for students and teachers. A non-functioning pipeline was also fixed, allowing the school to have clean water once again.
