Safe water for life in rural Malawi

Community water pumps are the main source of safe water for rural populations in Malawi. The pumps themselves are complicated mechanical devices that require regular servicing and part replacements to remain fully functional during their estimated lifespan of 15 years. Unfortunately, many pumps have been installed by external organisations without a sustainable and practical plan for servicing, repair, and maintenance. Without this in place, pumps can fall into disrepair within a couple of years of installation and this has led to high non-functionality rates of up to 40%.

We train and contract the Pump Mechanics to provide servicing to pumps on a fixed schedule and guarantee repairs are carried out within 3 days, for a fixed cost to the community.

We have learnt that to ensure that this approach is carried out professionally and sustainably our approach must:

• Establish binding contracts with Mechanics, 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 Mechanics to adopt waterpoint repair and maintenance full time by providing them with financial incentives that makes work profitable for them.
• Support community WPCs to collect user fees to pay Mechanics 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.

Case Study of a Pump Mechanic

Agatha is newly trained Area Mechanic living at Manondo village, in Dowa District.

When Agatha lost her husband early this year, her hope for survival was gone as she lost the sole bread winner for her 5 children.

However, she took on the opportunity to be trained as an Area Mechanic by Pump Aid in collaboration with Malawi Government.

Agatha is confident that using the skills she acquired during the August-September 2023 training, she will boost her livelihood and that of the community where waterpoints are non-functional due to lack professionalised Repair and Maintenance Services.

“Coming from the background of Water Point Committee Management, it has always hurt me to see bush mechanics break water points, I thought I could make a difference by becoming one of the skilled technicians who could improve the functionality of the water points which in turn helps to reduce water related diseases.” Agatha said. “Through the training I have learnt borehole operation and maintenance, troubleshooting to find out reasons for breakdowns and problem solving.”

 Apart from the training, Agatha is grateful to Pump Aid for equipping her with right tools for her job. “Pump Aid-Beyond Water has supported me with spanners, a bicycle for easy mobility, work and rain suits, bags and promises continuous coaching and mentorship sessions for me,” she said.

Links:

• https://pumpaid.org/blog/