1. Introduction
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1. Introduction This paper is a continuation (Part 2) of an earlier paper of the same title by the same authors. The first paper was based on a survey and analysis of over 1000 improved water points in the district of Salima and studied the effect that poor co-ordination was having on achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the proportion of people without safe water by 2015. The paper quantified the effect of poor coordination both in terms of wasted finances and in the failure of well intentioned donor money to meet the objective of serving the poor. It also developed an ‘equity of distribution’ indicator which enables the degree to which resources are fairly distributed to be quantified. Since writing the first paper the survey work has continued and a water point inventory containing information on the location, age, maintenance history and condition of over 9000 water points has been developed. The work covers a population of 1.5 million people, nearly 18% of the rural population of Malawi, and contains information on 35 Traditional Areas and six districts. Arguably it is a large enough sample size to be representative of the condition of all the water points in Malawi. With access to an increased amount of raw data, the authors re-visited the analysis process in order to verify their earlier work. Through this, further simple indicators were developed in order to assess the likelihood of achieving the Millennium Development Goal in Malawi. This paper is divided into two sections, the first describes the results of this additional work and proposes new indicators for monitoring and evaluating the rural water sector. If adopted, these indicators could help to quantify, target and define the type of investments needed to half the proportion of people without access to safe water in Malawi. The second section uses the results of the survey to calculate the resources needed in order to ensure Malawi achieves the Millennium Development Goal and in the process defines terms such as ‘safe’ and ‘access’. It takes into consideration population growth and studies the impact that five different resource allocation strategies would have on the MDG. For ease of understanding, Section One is based on the1998 population census figures, while in Section Two the effect of population growth is taken into consideration to gain a more accurate assessment of the MDG. Halving the proportion of people without access to safe water by 2015 1 A Malawian perspective, Part 2 - September 2003 SECTION ONE: DEFINING NEW INDICATORS 2. Methodology for data collection and analysis 2.1 Improved community water point data collection Improved water point surveys were carried out by District Assembly extension staff and Non governmental organisation (NGO) staff members in six districts in Malawi; these were Mzimba, Salima, Lilongwe, Machinga, Zomba and Mulanje (see figure 2.1). They used simple, hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) units, which are capable of accurately marking the position of a water point, together with a simple questionnaire (see Appendix Two). They visited every improved community water point in 35 Traditional Authorities within the districts. The quality of data was verified by the district’s Supervising Monitoring Officers, who visited a randomly chosen sample of between 5% and 10% of all the surveyed sites. Additional verification visits and desk-checks were carried out by the authors and officers from the partner organisations. A breakdown of the survey areas and the scope of the data collected is provided in figure 2.1 and table 2.1 FIGURE 2.1 LOCATION OF THE SEVEN AREAS SURVEYED (areas surveyed appear in grey fill) 2 Halving the number of proportion without access to safe water by 2015 A Malawian perspective, Part 2 - September 2003 TABLE 2.1. SCOPE OF SURVEY BY AREA, POPULATION AND POINTS COVERED Partner 1998 total rural N˚ of Water Points N˚ of rural District / TA organisation / Area population surveyed Enumeration Areas Area 1 Mzimba South 149,608 1,396 113 TA M'Mbelwa 84,474 664 60 CCAP TA Mzikobula 44,577 518 35 TA Mzukuzuku 20,557 214 18 Area 2 Salima 219,730 1,112 192 SC Kambalame 9,843 58 9 SC Kambwiri 19,642 102 14 SC Msosa 4,418 6 4 SC Mwanza 12,609 47 13 WaterAid TA Karonga 42,147 257 34 TA Khombedza 44,119 225 44 TA Kuluunda 9,372 48 7 TA Maganga 35,315 119 22 TA Ndindi 26,825 204 27 TA Pemba 15,440 46 18 Area 3 Lilongwe West 173,351 441 156 InterAide TA Kalolo 100,039 299 90 TA Khongoni 73,312 142 66 Area 4 Lilongwe East 193,625 762 196 TA Chadza 76,500 219 69 InterAide TA Mazengera 72,606 340 79 TA Kalumbu 44,519 203 48 Area 5 Machinga 338,889 2,126 338 SC Chamba 16,394 112 16 SC Chikweo 36,089 166 34 SC Chiwalo 10,951 22 11 SC Mlomba 26,774 250 28 SC Mposa 17,205 130 17 WaterAid SC Ngokwe 20,476 70 19 SC Sitola 31,299 318 35 TA Kawinga 79,771 616 81 TA Liwonde 61,337 331 60 TA Nyambi TA 38,593 111 37 Area 6 Zomba East 155,506 1,214 154 InterAide TA Kutumanji 61,076 481 59 TA Mwambo 94,430 733 95 Area 7 Mulanje South 269,507 2,032 295 SC Laston Njema 46,461 248 54 TA Chikumbu 60,466 506 69 Oxfam TA Mabuka 127,892 937 130 TA Nthiramanja 34,688 341 42 Total 1,500,216 9,083 1,444 The total area surveyed contains a population of approximately 1,500,000. This is equivalent to about 18% of Malawi’s rural population. Seven areas, each comprising of at least three adjoining Traditional Authorities (TA), formed the basis of the analysis. Each area had a population of 150,000 or greater. The Japanese International Cooperation Agency funded the survey and analysis work in all areas except four TAs in Mulanje, where the European Community Humanitarian Office funded OXFAM to carry out similar work with technical assistance from WaterAid. Halving the proportion of people without access to safe water by 2015 3 A Malawian perspective, Part 2 - September 2003 2.2 Units of population used in the analysis The survey results were entered on to a database to form an inventory of over 9000 water points. These were used to develop maps using Global Information System (GIS) technology. Rural water point densities were calculated using information from the 1998 census undertaken by the National Statistics Office based in Zomba. Three units of population were used in the analysis: Enumeration Area, Traditional Authority and District. The information was processed by Enumeration Area level for purposes of accuracy and summarised at Traditional Authority and District levels. The maps below illustrate the three units of population using Mulanje District as an example. FIGURE 2.2 MULANJE DISTRICT POPULATION – CALCULATED BY ENUMERATION AREA, TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY AND DISTRICT. 1. Enumeration Area populations range from around 500 to 1500 people. (There are 450 rural Enumeration Areas within Mulanje District) 2. Traditional Authority Areas are comprised of an average 75 Enumeration Areas with populations ranging from 35,000 to 125,000 3. Mulanje District comprising six TAs, has a total population of around 400,000 4 Halving the number of proportion without access to safe water by 2015 A Malawian perspective, Part 2 - September 2003 2.3 Defining, calculating and using water point density data i) Water point density – a simplified overview If a village has two thousand inhabitants and they draw their water from four boreholes situated on the edge of the village, then the village can be said to have one water point for every five hundred people. This is the village’s water point density. Villages vary greatly in size, settlement pattern and the name by which they are known. They also often have confusing geographical boundaries. This makes the village an awkward unit around which to develop a database or carry out any analysis. A more consistent and convenient unit is the Enumeration Area, the boundaries of which have been defined by the National Statistics Office. These boundaries do not always follow physical structures on the ground, but instead are parcels of land defined mainly on a map, which contain approximately one thousand people. When viewed on a map, a geographically large Enumeration Area will probably contain a few, widely spread, small settlements and have a low population density, while a geographically small Enumeration Area will probably contain one continuous, large settlement and have a high population density. This report uses the Improved Community Water Point Densities of the Enumeration Areas as the basis for defining coverage rates and analysing resource allocation patterns. The following box gives a definition of an Improved Community Water Point. An improved Community Water Point (ICWP) Any water point which is capable of providing safe water to which the people in the surrounding area have access. Included Excluded Borehole fitted with a handpump Unlined wells without an apron Shallow well fitted with a handpump Scoop holes Shallow well fitted with a windlass Rivers, lakes, and ponds Stand tap supplied by a rural piped Privately owned water points water scheme ii) Basic method of calculation The basic unit of analysis in this survey is theE numeration Area Water Point Density. The water point density is the number of improved water points in an area divided by the population expressed in water points per 1000 people. Eg If an Enumeration Area has a population of 1174 people and has two improved community water points (ICWP), the ICWP density is calculated as follows: 2 ÷ 1174 x 1000 = 1.70 This shows a density of 1.70 improved community water points per 1000 population.