Kenya is among four African countries set to benefit from improved access to safe drinking water in a partnership between Unilever and UNICEF.

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This will be a major boost for a country where one in three people lack access to safe drinking water.

Through the partnership, UNICEF and Unilever seek to provide water management models that deliver results and attract more investment by implementing innovative community and school-based programmes to promote sustainable use of safe water and improve hygiene and hand washing practices.

UNICEF and Unilever announced the partnership after the World Water Day marked on March 22 which will also benefit Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

The new agreement includes financial investment as well as strategic engagement with government and civil society.

“Africa’s population is surging and access to safe drinking water remains a serious problem for present and future generations,” said UNICEF’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Leila Gharagozloo-Pakkala.

“Over the next two years, this partnership will not only ensure children and communities have access to safe drinking water, but that it is sustainable and scalable across the continent.”

Bruno Witvoet, President Unilever Africa, said: “At Unilever we want our brands to make a difference to the lives of the people of Africa, but the scale of challenges such as providing safe water go far beyond what any organisation, public or private can do alone. This partnership will draw on the joint expertise, resources and networks of both UNICEF and Unilever, to magnify our efforts so we improve the quality of life for ordinary people and help Africa meet the Sustainable Development Goals."

In Kenya, one-in-three people lack access to safe drinking water, while in Nigeria at least 150,000 children below five years of age die every year as a result of diarrhoea, and 70 million people lack access to improved water sources.

Côte d’Ivoire’s 90% of schools and health care centres lack access to improved water supplies while Ghana has more than two million people using water from unsafe sources.

Despite unfavourable conditions, the potential to improve the situation for children exists. Due to the achievements realised through the Millennium Development Goals, an additional 47,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa now have access to safe drinking water every day, an increase of 20% compared to 25 years ago.

UNICEF and Unilever began collaborating in 2012 under a global partnership to address the sanitation crisis.