Kenya faces critical declines in forest and water resource—faced nowhere more acutely than in the Mau Forest Complex and its dependent river basins. The Mau, a once densely forested montane massif in southern Kenya, west of the Great Rift Valley, is the source of numerous rivers feeding the Rift and Lake Victoria. Famous for its crossing by the massive Serengeti wildebeest migration between Tanzania and Kenya, the Mara River is threatened by upstream land use change in the Mau and the uncertain impacts of climate change. These land use changes cause diverse, often violent, conflicts generated by access to land, forest and water resources as well as inter-ethnic political strife. Recognizing the cross-sectoral importance of reversing these trends, the Prime Minister’s Office is in charge of coordinating Mau restoration.  

September 2009–September 2012   Water supply services in Afghanistan are limited, and access to improved water infrastructure is among the lowest in the world. Across rural Afghanistan, 89% of people defecate in the open, 75% drink contaminated water, and 10 out of 100 children die from preventable waterborne diseases before reaching their fifth birthday. Investments in Afghanistan’s rural water supply and sanitation infrastructure must be more effective at improving the lives of the Afghan people. Critical to this is creating opportunities for local engagement and mentoring future leaders of the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector. USAID/Afghanistan Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation (SWSS) project offers a platform to improve each by employing non-traditional approaches to address very conventional issues.