Effects of Rainwater Harvesting Projects on Household Welfare: A Case Study of Thika East Sub-County, Kiambu, Kenya

One of the determinants of household welfare is the availability of water for use in domestic and farm production. Harvesting rainwater is thought to provide an alternative source of water in the prevailing situations where rainfall is unreliable in both distribution and amounts. Though rainwater harvesting (RWH) projects have been adopted by some homes in the society, little is known about the role they play on household welfare. This study therefore, endeavours to assess the contribution and significance of these projects on the household’s well-being, hence its main objective.
Though several factors contribute to the welfare of a household, this study focuses on; household’s time usage in collecting water, level of crop yields, level of livestock yields and the aspect of gender roles in water collection within households as influenced by RWH projects.
The study area is Thika East sub-county where the sampled households are drawn. This study utilizes ex-post impact evaluation model as cited by World Bank (2004) which makes it possible to deduce effects on those who have benefited from the projects against those who have not. Data collection is by way of survey technique. The technique makes it possible to collect comparable information for a relatively large number of people in particular target groups and compare the different groups at a given point in time (World Bank 2004).
A sample of 140 respondents is considered, out of which 70 have adopted RWH projects while the rest have not. The respondents within the study area are randomly selected and stratified into two groups; those who have benefited and those who have not. Instruments for data collection include questionnaires, observation, household interviews and key informant interviews. Before data collection, a pilot test was conducted by subjecting some potential respondents to the process of data collection intended for use to ascertain that the responses answer the research questions. Data collected was subjected to multivariate analysis to come up with processed data that can be interpreted and that meets the study objectives. MANOVA was used to test the strength of interrelationships between the multiple dependent variables.