Programme

General information

Are you a WASH enterprise with a proven solution, the capacity to deploy and operate it in Kenya, and an interest in a long-term relationship with a water utility rather than a one-off sale? Join the Water Resilience Solutions Hub (WRSH), implemented by cewas, OPERO Services and seecon impact, and co-design a funded pilot with one of four Kenyan water utilities.

What’s in it for you?

• Facilitated access to utility decision-makers. The four utilities have committed to the process and identified their priority climate challenges.
• A co-designed, funded pilot to validate your solution at operational scale, with catalytic financing that lowers the barrier to a first deployment.
• Systematic monitoring and documentation against the utility’s climate risk baselines, building an investable evidence base for your solution.
• Business case development and support to unlock follow-on financing for scale-up.
• Support to formalise durable public-private collaborations with validated terms.
• Visibility: results are published across the East Africa WASH ecosystem.

How the WRSH works

Water supply systems across East Africa are becoming increasingly fragile under climate stress. Solutions exist, but utilities face administrative, capacity and procurement barriers that make it hard to engage innovators. Enterprises struggle to access decision-makers, interpret operational needs and build the evidence the sector needs.

The WRSH closes this gap. It connects Kenyan and Ugandan water utilities with WASH enterprises through a repeatable pathway: shared problem diagnosis and participatory climate risk assessment, matchmaking and co-designed pilots with catalytic finance, and formalised long-term collaboration. cewas, OPERO Services and seecon impact facilitate as neutral brokers.

In Kenya, the Hub works with public water utilities, who are regulated Water Service Providers (WSPs). This call concerns the first cohort of the four Kenyan utilities or WSPs: Gatundu (GATWASCO), Limuru (LWSC), Kisii (KWASCO) and Kericho (KEWASCO). Each has a Climate Risk Assessment report with prioritised risks and entry points for collaboration.

See the four utilities and their reports

Support continues beyond the pilot: the WRSH accompanies selected collaborations through pilot implementation in 2027 and towards formalisation and scale-up, until May 2028.

Timeline

Collaboration models

We are not looking for one-off arrangements where an enterprise builds or installs infrastructure, is paid, and steps away. We are looking for enterprises that take on genuine, ongoing operational responsibility for specific tasks or service areas, relieving the utility of a recurring burden while addressing one of its priority climate challenges. The utility keeps overall ownership and oversight.

The models below are illustrative, not exhaustive. Other arrangements are welcome if they share the same logic.

Treatment as a service (water, wastewater or faecal sludge)

The enterprise designs, finances and operates a treatment facility or process and is paid for the treatment delivered, for example per m³ treated or against water quality targets.

What the utility gains: No upfront capital, reliable treatment performance and, for wastewater, treated water as an alternative source.

Monitoring and data as a service

The enterprise deploys and maintains its own sensors and data systems (source levels, intake turbidity, tank levels, pressure, water quality, DMA flows). The utility pays for the data and alerts.

What the utility gains: No investment in equipment, and early warning of silt build-up, pressure surges, low flows or water quality decline.

Performance-based contract or delegated management of a network zone

The enterprise takes day-to-day responsibility for a climate-exposed network section or DMA (NRW reduction, meter management, leak detection, preventive maintenance) against agreed targets.

What the utility gains: Relief from an operational burden, with an operator whose incentives match keeping the zone running well.

Build-operate-transfer (BOT) with an offtake or bulk purchase agreement

The enterprise finances, develops and operates a source, storage or treatment asset and recovers its investment through a bulk purchase or availability agreement.

What the utility gains: New capacity without upfront capital, with operational risk carried by the partner and ownership transferred over time.

Delegated maintenance and rapid-response services

The enterprise handles routine inspection, maintenance and standby repairs for exposed assets, such as a landslide-prone transmission corridor or sewer sections.

What the utility gains: Fewer and shorter disruptions, predictable costs and less reactive rehabilitation.

Eligibility

To apply, you should meet the following conditions:

• Enterprise type: you are a WASH company or social enterprise. Your core business is in water supply and treatment, water quality, network management and NRW, source and catchment protection, storage and distribution, sanitation, wastewater treatment, faecal sludge management, or monitoring, data and digital services for utilities.
• Maturity: your solution is proven, beyond the concept stage.
• Deployment in Kenya: you can deploy and operate your solution in Kenya. Enterprises based outside Kenya must name a partner that would deploy and operate it in Kenya.
• Collaboration logic: you want to take on an ongoing operational role with a utility, not make a one-off sale.
• Climate link: your proposal addresses a prioritised climate challenge of at least one of the four utilities.
• Documents: you can provide a certificate of incorporation or registration and your most recent financial statement (audited where available).
• Availability: a decision-maker is available for an online interview between 15 and 22 October 2026 and for the co-creation workshop in Nairobi on 16 to 18 November 2026, if shortlisted.

Joint proposals are welcome. Several enterprises can submit one proposal through a lead enterprise, for example one providing the technology and another the operation or local deployment.

What we are not looking for

• One-off supply or installation contracts, after which the enterprise steps away.
• Studies, consultancy assignments or software licences without an operational role for the enterprise.
• Stand-alone energy or solar solutions.
• Solutions without a clear link to a prioritised climate challenge of the selected utilities.

How proposals are reviewed

The WRSH team reviews proposals together with the utilities, considering (indicative):

• Fit: addresses a prioritised climate risk and, ideally, an entry point from the utility’s Climate Risk Assessment report.
• Collaboration logic: genuine, ongoing operational responsibility.
• Commercial logic: a plausible financing and payment model, with effects on the utility’s costs and revenues.
• Track record and capacity: a proven solution and the capacity to deploy and operate it.
• Realistic requirements: what you need from the utility is clear and achievable.
• Scaling potential: the collaboration can grow within the utility and be replicated with other WSPs.

FAQ

Can enterprises based outside Kenya apply?
Yes. You must name a partner that would deploy and operate the solution in Kenya, and describe the status of that relationship in the application.

How much funding is available per collaboration?
Each collaboration selected for piloting can receive catalytic financing of USD 20,000.

Can several enterprises apply together?
Yes. Joint proposals are submitted once, by a lead enterprise, which is the contact point for the WRSH. If shortlisted, partner enterprises are expected to join the co-creation workshop.

Can I apply for more than one utility?
Yes. If you propose essentially the same solution to several utilities, submit one application and select all relevant utilities. If you propose different solutions, submit a separate application for each.

How detailed should my proposal be?
Proposals are preliminary. We expect a clear idea of the solution, the collaboration model and the business logic, not a detailed technical design or full financial model. The form takes about 60 to 90 minutes if your answers are prepared.

Is my information kept confidential?
Proposals are shared only with the four utilities, the WRSH implementing partners and, where required, the WRSH funders, for assessment. Mark commercially sensitive information as such.

In which language should I apply?
English.

Can I save the form and come back to it?
We cannot guarantee that the online form saves your progress. All questions are published in advance and an offline preparation template is available, so you can draft your answers first and paste them into the form.

Does applying create a contract with a utility?
No. Collaboration agreements are negotiated between the parties after the co-creation phase, with support from the WRSH.

What happens after selection?
Selected initiatives receive support for pilot preparation, catalytic financing, facilitation and monitoring during the pilot in 2027, and support to mobilise follow-on finance and formalise the collaboration, until May 2028.

Apply now!

Do you have a proven WASH solution that addresses one of the priority climate challenges of the four utilities? Are you ready to take on an ongoing operational role and co-design a funded pilot? Then we want to hear from you.

Submit your preliminary proposal by 15 October 2026, 23:59 EAT.

Before you start, prepare your certificate of incorporation or registration and your most recent financial statement as PDF files (max. 10 MB each). Submit one application per proposed collaboration.

If a file exceeds the upload limit, or you have questions about the call, email Cawo Yassin Ali at cawo.yassin.ali@cewas.org quoting your enterprise name.

APPLY NOW!