Using Mobile Technology to Increase Water Access in Kenya

In Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, clean water is sold, but residents often don’t know in advance where to buy it or how much it costs. Therefore, the time expenditure for finding and fetching clean water can be substantial. M-Maji aims to leverage the power of mobile technology to bypass traditional barriers to clean water – specifically information barriers.

This project looks to reduce such costs by making information more available about location, availability, quality and cost of water in Kibera and nearby communities. Through M-Maji, a water vendor can send an SMS message advertising his location and water information to potential customers. By facilitating this exchange of information, M-Maji is working to make a more frictionless water market and increase access to clean water.

This project was developed through Stanford D-School’s Designing Liberation Technologies program and is funded by the Center for Innovation in Global Health and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.