A/HRC/30/39/Add.2 accede to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. IV. Maximum available resources and budgeting for the rights to water and sanitation 61. Kenya has the human rights obligation to progressively realize the human rights to water and sanitation, using the maximum available resources, which include international assistance and cooperation. The national and county-level budgets must therefore have specific allocations or budget lines for water, as well as for sanitation and hygiene, including menstrual hygiene management. 62. In the 2015 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) Performance Index, a quantitative measure of the progressive realization of the human rights to water and sanitation, Kenya ranks 76th out of 117 countries. The Index compares the rates of change of specific countries in improving equity and access to water and sanitation to best-in-class rates of change among countries at similar levels of water and sanitation coverage to generate a benchmarked value. The ranking suggests that, compared to other countries, Kenya is not investing its maximum available resources to progressively realize the human rights to water and sanitation.19 63. During the mission the Special Rapporteur was informed that about 4 per cent of the national budget had been allocated for water and sewerage, although that included all water-related activities, such as water resource management and water for tourism, industry and other non-domestic uses. The budget of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation increased from 0.4 per cent of gross domestic product in 2003/04 to 0.9 per cent in 2008/09, and the majority of the budget growth was spent on water supply and sanitation rather than irrigation.20 This means that the Government is allocating more resources to water supply and sewerage than before, which is a welcome step. However, the increased budget should be targeted to underdeveloped areas, such as rural regions, informal settlements and underdeveloped counties. In this regard, under the Constitution Kenya established the Equalisation Fund, to which 0.5 per cent of national revenue is allocated. The national Government uses the Fund to provide basic services, including water, to marginalized areas to bring the quality of those services to the level generally enjoyed by the rest of the nation. However, the Fund unfortunately cannot be used for sanitation. The Special Rapporteur calls on the Government to review the regulations of the Equalisation Fund and expand such funds to the area of sanitation and hygiene. 64. In the decentralized structure, the Constitution provides that “county governments shall have reliable sources of revenue to enable them to govern and deliver services effectively” (art. 175 (b)). The Constitution also prescribes that the Senate determines “the basis for allocating among the counties the share of national revenue that is annually allocated to the county level of Government” (art. 217). However, the Special Rapporteur was informed that for the fiscal year 2013/14, only three counties had adequate funding available to implement planned sanitation activities and 18 counties had no dedicated budget line for sanitation.21 19 20 21 Ryan Cronk and others, “The WaSH Performance Index report” (The Water Institute at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina). Available at http://bit.ly/1RhieaX. African Ministers’ Council on Water, “Water supply and sanitation in Kenya: turning finance into services for 2015 and beyond”, p. 15. Kenya, Ministry of Health and the Water and Sanitation Program, County Sanitation Profiles. 15