Impact Report For 2011/2012 Photography: Peter Nicholls (The Times) Welcome Pump Aid is a water and sanitation charity that works with rural communities in Sub Saharan Africa – Over the past 10 years we have provided access to clean water During 2011/12, over and sanitation to over 1.1 million people. Pump Aid’s simple technology has won awards: 45,000 people now have received access to clean • Elephant Pump: St Andrews Prize for Environment 2005 water and sanitation as • Elephant Pump: World Bank Development Marketplace Award for Development Innovations 2006 a direct result of Pump • Elephant Toilet: St Andrews Prize for Environment 2008 Aid and its donors’ Pump Aid is a member of the End Water Poverty Coalition and a member of the collective endeavours. Global Hand Washing Coalition. Objectives and Activities Pump Aid was established to bring appropriate, affordable and sustainable water and sanitation solutions to rural Africa. We have three strategic aims: To transform the lives of the rural poor by ensuring that they have the technologies, skills and tools to manage sustainable and appropriate water and sanitation solutions for themselves; To maximise our impact and sustainability by working through effective partnerships with communities, local government and other agencies working in the water and sanitation sector; To transform Pump Aid from an organisation that focuses predominantly on building pumps, into one that has the capacity to train local providers/builders to build pumps and promote sustainable water and sanitation solutions, at the appropriate level for the communities that use the technology. 1. Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 20 7922 7992 Web: www.pumpaid.org In setting out programme of activities each year, Pump Aid also observes to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit. The activities currently carried out for the public benefit by Pump Aid can be broadly categorised as follows: • Elephant Pump Installation – Pump Aid installs low tech water pumps that use locally available materials in the remote rural sub-Saharan African communities to provide clean and safe water for domestic and productive use. • Sanitation – Pump Aid promotes the construction of low tech toilets, known as Elephant Toilets. • Community engagement – the transfer of skills and the simple technology empower communities to maintain their own water and sanitation supplies and utilise this water supply productively, so that they can benefit from the positive outcomes such as improved health, greater food security, increased access to education as a result of the reduction in the time needed to access clean water as well as Photography: Peter Nicholls (The Times) strengthening economic wellbeing through the potential for extended agricultural opportunities. Impact – what we mean Health: Consuming water from unprotected sources can cause a huge negative impact on people’s health and more children die from water borne diseases than from HIV/AIDS, malaria, measles and armed conflict combined. Poor hygiene behaviour is also a great concern in the areas we work in. For example, in rural Malawi, less than 1% of mothers wash their hands after going to the toilet, before preparing a meal, after changing a baby or before feeding a child. Positive impact of clean water and safe sanitation can only be achieved when people change their behaviour: Reports show that washing hands with soap and clean running water after visiting a toilet, for example, can reduce diarrhoeal diseases by over 40%, showing how together access to clean water and a change of behaviour can positively impact on health. This is why it is important that Pump Aid not only provides access to clean water and sanitation but also gives hygiene training to the communities we work in, in collaboration with the health authorities. Economic Development: Easy access to clean water gives people more water to grow food and also saves them time, enabling them to spend more time farming, or making money by other means. The World Health Organisation estimates that for every $1 spent on water and sanitation, the community will receive between $7 and $12 worth of benefits. Education: Consuming water from unprotected sources causes many diseases. Each year, 443 million school days are missed due to water-related illnesses. Moreover, it is often the task of children to collect water, meaning many children, in particular girls, cannot spend time studying or are unable to attend school. Access to water and sanitation facilities in schools are major factors influencing whether children, particularly girls, attend school. In Africa, girls attend school for an average of only 2.82 years before they reach the age of 16. However with a nearby clean water source children are both healthy enough, and have enough time to go to school and will be able to finish their studies. Food Security: Hunger and malnutrition are major problems in many parts of Africa; according to the UN World Food Programme more than a billion people are undernourished. This is partly because during the dry season wells often dry up, this and a lack of rain means that people often cannot grow food during this time. However with an Elephant Pump people can produce crops all year round. Women & Children: Women and children are usually responsible for collecting water; this can take up much of their time. The International Fund for Agricultural Development estimates that women in rural Africa spend, on average, 26% of their time collecting water for their families. Women often have to walk a long way to get to the nearest water source, not only is this very hard work and time consuming but it also makes women vulnerable to attack. With a nearby water source women are much safer, and as the Elephant Pump is easy to use, women spend much less time collecting water and are able to do other things, like tending their gardens and looking after children. 2. Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 20 7922 7992 Web: www.pumpaid.org MALAWI - Overview In Malawi approximately 88% of the population lives in rural areas and 43% of the rural population is classed below the threshold of $1 per person per day. Rural areas generally have much less access to clean water and sanitation than urban areas. Up to 50% of Malawians may have no access to safe water and in some rural areas, like Mchinji District, where Pump Aid works, almost 90% have no access to adequate sanitation. In Mchinji District only 25% of primary schools have access to a protected water source, and only 23% of primary schools meet the national standard of pupil/latrine ratio; 4% of schools had no latrines at all and only 4% offered children hand washing facilities with soap and water. Of the 16 health centres in the District, 8 are lacking improved 1 sanitation facilities. Pump Aid now has a good presence in Malawi, with close to 10% of the rural water supply now provided through Elephant Pumps, built by 2 Pump Aid. Malawi Pump Aid Malawi focus area The decision was made to focus activities to the Mchinji District in the 2011/12 financial year. Focusing on one area increases the impact of the programme and enables the teams to fully engage with local authorities and establish a presence there. Sites have also been identified in Lilongwe Rural and Kasungu in preparation of additional projects for implementation in 2012/13. 1 A ventilated improved pit latrine (VIP) is a dry pit latrine ventilated by a pipe that extends above the latrine roof. The open end of the vent pipe is covered with gauze mesh or fly-proof netting and the inside of the superstructure is kept dark. A pit latrine with slab is a dry pit latrine that uses a hole in the ground to collect the excreta and a squatting slab or platform that is firmly supported on all sides, easy to clean and raised above the surrounding ground level to prevent surface water from entering the pit. The platform has a squatting hole, or is fitted with a seat. 2 Based on the Malawi WASH Coalition 2007 water point mapping. Elephant Water Programme Output Achievements Summary of annual planned During the 2011/12 operational year, a total of 311 pumps were installed. & achieved outputs This has made a difference in the lives of approximately 31,504 people (6,711 women, 5,970 men, 9,193 boys and 9,630 girls. On average each pump serves a total of 101 people.) The pump building programme managed to achieve all the planned outputs for the year whereas with the sanitation project Pump Aid incurred a minor delay with 58 slabs casted and distributed from a target of 80. The rest will be finalised early in the new financial year. As part of improving programme sustainability and stakeholder involvement, 20 (District Council) Health Surveillance Assistants were trained in Elephant Pump operation and maintenance. These participants were drawn from four health facilities namely Mikundi, Gumba, Chipumi, and Mkanda in the catchment area covering traditional Authorities Mkanda, Kapondo, and Mduwa in Mchinji district. In these areas, Pump Aid has installed approximately 54% (170 pumps) of pumps in Mchinji in the year. 3. Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 20 7922 7992 Web: www.pumpaid.org MALAWI - Overview Elephant Toilet Programme Output Achievements: Promoting children as the key agents of change for sanitation and hygiene is crucial. With this in mind Pump Aid is extending its programme next year to include access to sanitation at schools and children centres. In 2011/12 Pump Aid started preparing for this. The sites are all schools, orphanages and Community Based Child Care Centres (CBCCC) in the Districts Mchinji and Lilongwe Rural.