“Water is Everything”: Women's Lived Experiences of Water Collection as a Lens for Understanding the Progressive Realization of the Right to Water in Kenya Open Access
White, Jera (Spring 2024)
Abstract
The human right to water was formally recognized by the United Nations in 2010. However, water adequacy continues to be a global challenge and is a particular concern in Kenya. Although the country has made great strides toward the fulfillment of the right to water, water adequacy remains an aspiration for millions of Kenyans. This research investigates the status of progressive realization of the right to water in Kenya, as informed by women’s lived experiences with water collection in rural areas. Using a modified go-along interview technique, women were accompanied while collecting water and asked about various aspects of their water journeys. The time and distance traveled were recorded using smartwatches, and scales were used to record the weight of items carried by participants. To establish a comprehensive understanding of the challenges women face to achieving water adequacy, the qualitative data from interview transcripts and quantitative data from the smartwatches and scales were then triangulated and applied to the Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability, and Quality (AAAQ) framework, which has been used by organizations like the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights to assess progressive realization of the right to water. Participants were found to experience challenges related to all four aspects of the framework, with accessibility proving particularly plagued by a diverse array of barriers. Key themes discovered included physical, temporal, administrative, financial, and gender-related access barriers, quantity and regularity-ofsupply related availability barriers, acceptability barriers related to environmental and water characteristics, and quality barriers related to safety of water and the nature of water sources. The research concluded with the recommendation that more work be conducted using human rights frameworks, as it was shown to provide valuable insights by focusing on the perspectives of those most affected by the issues raised, which are often overlooked in standard assessments. This project ultimately reinforced the immense potential that mixed-method, communityoriented, and human rights-focused research has for improving our understanding of the status of complex issues like water adequacy and highlighted the important work still to be done to achieve the right to water for all people.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction... 1
Chapter 2: Literature Review... 6
Chapter 3: Methods... 21
Chapter 4: Results... 29
Chapter 5: Discussion, Recommendations, & Conclusion... 83
5.1 Discussion & Recommendations... 83
5.2 Conclusion... 100
References... 102
Appendix A: Maps Showing Routes Of Water Journeys Organized By Water Source... 112
About this Master's Thesis
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