How Makilenga Turned Rural Water into a Lasting Model
In 2011, most families in Meru District walked long distances for water that met less than half their needs. Today, the very system they helped build, now known as Makilenga, pumps water to tens of thousands of people every single day.
The Challenge
Before the project, less than 40% of the target population of 45,000 across Meru District had reliable access to safe water, defined as at least 25 liters per person per day within 500 meters of home. Access to improved sanitation was even lower, under 30%. Villages relied on scattered, poorly maintained infrastructure with no coordinated management, leaving households to fetch water from distant or unsafe sources and leaving schools and dispensaries without a dependable supply. There was no shared system in place to keep pipelines, wells, or distribution points functioning over the long term.
What Changed
Between 2011 and 2015, Istituto Oikos, together with Oikos East Africa and the Meru District Council and funded by the European Union, laid 262 km of new pipelines, much of it excavated with community contribution, and built 280 public distribution points, alongside 10 rainwater harvesting systems for primary and secondary schools and dispensaries. Beyond infrastructure, the project ran a hygiene and sanitation awareness campaign that reached 8,422 community members and 16,572 students. Communities from 24 village water committees came together to form the Makilenga Water Consumer Association, taking its name from the initials of the areas it serves, with representatives from 16 villages sitting on its board. Over 200 Village Water Committee members were trained in their roles, and Makilenga employed a dedicated Water Management Team, now 9 full-time and 2 part-time staff, to run day-to-day operations.
The Results
Access to safe water in the project area rose from under 40% to 95%, and access to improved sanitation climbed from under 30% to 75% within four years. Since 2013, Makilenga has covered its own operation and maintenance costs without government subsidy, proof the model works long after donor funding ends. Its success reshaped national policy: Tanzania's Ministry of Water drew on the Makilenga experience to help design the 2019 Water and Sanitation Act, which established Community-Based Water Supply Organizations (CBWSOs) as the country's governance model for rural water management, along with the idea of clustering village schemes and separating board oversight from daily operations.
