Safe water for life in rural Malawi

Pump Aid is training and organising water entrepreneurs to provide a repair and maintenance service for community water pumps on a regular basis to ensure a reliable safe supply of water for poor rural communities. We train and contract the entrepreneurs to service to pumps on a fixed schedule and guarantee repairs are carried out within 3 days to ensure a reliable water supply for communities.

We have learnt that to ensure that this approach is carried out professionally, reliably and with a strong prospect of ongoing sustainability we must:

• Establish binding contracts with entrepreneurs, Water Point Committees (WPCs) and District Councils to manage the repair and maintenance of specific water pumps using trained water entrepreneurs (as supported with this project), guaranteeing regular servicing and repairs
• Support community water point committees to collect user fees to pay entrepreneurs and for required spare parts (using mobile money)
• Undertake regular detailed monitoring to understand the status of pumps and the costs of regular servicing and ongoing repairs
• Use mobile based apps to monitor and share pump status data with District Government and other NGOs 

During the course of our project, we have learnt that supporting the development of successful women water entrepreneurs helps to challenge gender norms in rural Malawi, providing a positive demonstration effect for women and girls.

In part because of increasing process for spare parts, sub quality spare parts are entering the market, these have a low life span. Pump Aid is working with the District Council to ensure spare part vendors are only stocking quality parts. We are working with the National Government to develop a quality standard for spare parts.

Persuading Water Point Committees to carry out regular servicing to improve the lifespan and functionality of pumps (ie reducing the need for more costly repairs) requires a great deal of time and support from the District Water Office.

Women entrepreneurs provide an example to other women and girls in their communities, inspiring the next generation to build their own future and overcome social barriers. This self-sustainable approach results in reliable access to water to improve access to opportunities for women to overcome gender inequality.

Area Mechanic Case Study

“Before I started working as an area mechanic, I was once a committee member of our water point in Choma village T/A Chakhadza of Dowa district where I come from.”

"I saw this as an opportunity to source out funds or I saw this as an income source which would help me be part of a team helping my fellow community members have access to clean and safe water as well as reducing the number of non-functional boreholes,” said the female area mechanic.

She went for area mechanics training to learn the technical and business skills required to undertake repair and maintenance of pumps.

This was a huge achievement for her because it was an upgrade for her from a committee member to an area mechanic.

Links:

• Website
• Youtube video