Ruth Onyango

Technical Officer - Kenya Innovative Finance Facility for Water (KIFFWA)

Ruth Onyango is a WASH and water resources specialist with over 20 years of experience in water, sanitation, and water resources development across East Africa. She currently serves at the Kenya Innovative Finance Facility for Water (KIFFWA), where she supports the technical, environmental, and investment appraisal of water and sanitation projects, with a focus on strengthening project bankability and structuring investment-ready WASH projects that can attract commercial and catalytic financing.
Prior to joining KIFFWA, Ruth worked as a consultant and project manager with Rural Focus Ltd, leading initiatives in Kenya. She played a key role in delivering more than 35 rural WASH projects under the World Bank-funded Output-Based Aid programme, helping transform community-managed water schemes into commercially viable utilities capable of attracting private sector investment. Her expertise spans sanitation and water infrastructure development, climate resilience, utility performance improvement, environmental and social risk management, and blended finance approaches for the WASH sector. She brings a strong understanding of the links between project development, utility operations, sector regulation, and sustainable financing.
Ruth holds an MSc in Agricultural Engineering (Water Resources Engineering) from Egerton University, Kenya, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Groundwater Exploration, Water Resources Exploitation and Conservation from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.