Kilifi Community Borehole Initiative | 2024
The Context
Kilifi County sits on Kenya’s coast in one of the country’s most water-stressed regions. Farmers watch harvests decline year after year as rainfall becomes increasingly unpredictable. Women and girls make multiple trips on foot daily to reach water, a time-consuming and physically demanding responsibility that affects health, income opportunities, and daily stability.
Kilifi is among the counties formally categorized under drought alert conditions by Kenya’s National Drought Management Authority, with water scarcity raising the risk of cholera, typhoid, and diarrheal disease across communities.
This is where the Nizar Foundation began.
The Project
In 2024, the Nizar Foundation completed the installation of an electrical borehole with block stand infrastructure in a village in Kilifi County.
The site was selected following a field assessment and on-ground coordination to verify the community’s need before any funds were committed.
The borehole yields sweet water: low-salinity, clean groundwater confirmed safe for drinking and agricultural use.
That distinction matters. Not all boreholes in this region reach sweet water. This one did.
What This Changes
A borehole is infrastructure. What it produces is time, health, and stability.
In Kilifi County, water collection has historically been a woman’s responsibility, a time-consuming and physically demanding task that affects health, income opportunities, and daily stability. A permanent on-site water source removes that burden from the daily equation.
Sweet water from a properly installed borehole supports:
- Clean drinking water access year-round, independent of rainfall
- Household sanitation and hygiene
- Small-scale farming and kitchen garden irrigation
- Livestock sustainability
- Reduced exposure to waterborne illness linked to surface water sources
- Time returned to women and girls previously responsible for long-distance collection
- Community stability through dry seasons when surface sources fail
In semi-arid areas of Kilifi County, families have migrated in search of water, livestock have declined, and children have suffered from waterborne illness when access to clean groundwater is not available.
A functioning borehole does not solve every challenge. But it removes the foundational one that everything else depends on.
How We Work
Nizar Foundation projects are approached through a structured process that prioritizes assessment, sustainability, and long-term community support.
- Field assessment and community needs verification
- Professional site survey and drilling
- Full installation and infrastructure setup
- Official community launch with prayers and sadaqa distributed through the Foundation
- Minimum one annual follow-up visit by the ground team
- Documented impact reporting
Our approach emphasizes continued follow-up, accountability, and long-term community support beyond installation.
Featured Quote
Project Details
- Project Location: Kilifi County, Kenya
- Year Completed: 2024
- Project Status: Completed, Annual Follow-up Ongoing
- Initiative Type: Clean Water Access
- Individuals Impacted: 600
- Families Impacted: 100
- Infrastructure Type: Electrical borehole, block stand
- Water Quality: Sweet water, confirmed