By Andrew Sinclair | Development Director
One of the points of a pilot project is to learn as part of a process to improve the implementation of the project when it is started in other areas. Sometimes it is hard to get people to tell you when things go wrong. So when we heard that one of the Waterwheels was damaged, although disappointing it was also encouraging that the information was passed back to RED International. It has been harder to find out more information regarding what actually happened but we are working on this. The roads and terrain are very rough in the area where the pilot project is taking place so we knew there would be a lot of wear and tear on the WaterWheels.
With 68 out of 70 WaterWheels now distributed to families, to have one failure is not so surprising. However, we need to use this as an opportunity to learn. We would like to see if there is a way we can get the damaged WaterWheel back to Wello for them to examine. It is clear from the picture that the handle is broken but we were also told that the WaterWheel is leaking so that is more serious.
Because the WaterWheel was part of the pilot project scheme, the damaged WaterWheel was replaced with a new one. We will work with our partners to make sure that they collect as much information as possible when something like this occurs.
Plans are now moving forward for an order of 30 more WaterWheels to be sent to another part of Rajasthan.
This is a learning experience for RED International and our partners as we continue to evaluate how the use of the WaterWheels is impacting the daily lives of the 68 families who have access to them. It is great to have a project worker who is on the ground and has contact with each family at least once a month but it is important to make the most of those interactions. It is good that we are informed when there are problems but we also need to make sure that the positive stories of using a WaterWheel are also collected. Watch this space!
Thank you again for your partnership with us and your support of this project.
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