Climate adaptation and WASH behavior change in the Lake Victoria Basin

As climate change disrupts the global hydrological cycle, bringing extremes of flooding and drought, many communities will experience changes in water and sanitation quality and access, requiring adaptive behavior changes. This study set out to map the adaptation patterns – namely, the strategies employed to cope with water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)-related impacts of climate change – within the Mabinju community, located along the banks of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya. Qualitative methods were employed, involving 17 semi-structured individual interviews and seven focus groups with village members. Insights derived from direct conversations with village members were deepened through qualitative interviews with an additional 13 WASH sector stakeholders working in the wider Lake Victoria Basin region. Through this study, various WASH-specific community adaptation measures were identified, with both positive and negative impacts on long-term local climate resilience. While many positive coping strategies were found to be spurred by the creative faculties of local residents, capacities for adaptation were found to be restrained by broader forces of poverty and resource access, resulting in the adoption of certain maladaptive coping mechanisms. These findings highlight the need for climate adaptation interventions in the WASH sector to simultaneously build on existing resilience-enhancing measures while addressing the root causes of maladaptation.