The Climate Resilience Water Services (CREWS) project scales up the successes of SNV's Market Assistance Programme in Kenya and addresses key barriers to systemic issues with regard to improving access to WASH facilities and services.

In Kenya, SNV’s Market Assistance Programme (MAP) piloted a market systems approach to water services delivery and improved sustainability in rural and small towns by engaging local private firms as managers. MAP also created an enabling environment for the private sector by supporting PPP policies in the water sector. Key learnings from the MAP project, together with acknowledgement from the government that existing resources in the water sector are insufficient to address the right to water, indicated the need to harness private sector expertise and resources to drive systemic change. Changes in weather and climate patterns also pose great risks to water availability for both human consumption and economic use. The impacts of climate change need to be seen in light of its direct effect on water resources as well as its indirect influence on other external drivers of change, in particular increasing population pressures and changing consumption patterns.

Climate Resilience Water Services (CREWS) will scale up the successes of MAP and address key barriers to systemic issues (such as policy, pricing mechanisms, governance, accountability, and capacity) that improve access to WASH facilities and services by the poor in urban and rural areas. CREWS will support Kenyan water sector actors to develop adaptation and mitigation strategies and use water efficient technologies for services delivery and other productive uses. The programme will scale up management models to improve functionality of rural water systems and address non-revenue water in urban utilities. To achieve this, SNV will partner with public institutions, private sector and civil society to address key constraints hampering service provision to the poor and underserved. The programme will also support the development of appropriate policy and tools to further attract private sector participation in the water sector.