Designing a Mixed-Methods Approach for Collaborative Local Water Security: Findings from a Kenyan Case Study

The purpose of this research was to develop and pilot a mixed-methods-coupled systems (human and physical) approach to understand strengths, challenges and health impacts associated with water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) in a rural Kenyan community. The pilot was undertaken in partnership with three of eight geographically separate neighbourhoods in a rural Maasai community. Qualitative and quantitative data represented the condition of physical infrastructure, water quality, WaSH-related practices, perceived health and incidents of waterborne disease. As evidenced through this case study, sanitary inspections are necessary but insufficient to identify potable water supplies, although they are good indicators of non-potable supplies. Furthermore, results underscored that even within a single community, differences in location and access to resources can lead to very different WaSH-related practices and perceptions. While focus on clinical health records and water quality and infrastructure are standard methods, the integration of these with community practices and perceptions provides a more complete foundation on which to build infrastructure and behaviour-change interventions. In melding community and scientific knowledge, intervention options can be more appropriately, and therefore sustainably, designed to reflect the social and cultural, as well as the physical, needs of the community.