Author Archives: mathieu

The WASH interventions : district of Phalombe

Phalombe District is located in the Southern Region of the Republic of Malawi, 80 kilometers south of the commercial city of Blantyre and 400 kilometers (5 to 6 hours) from Lilongwe.

Phalombe District has a population of 355,312. Its density is one among the most important of the country – 230 persons per sq.km.

It is divided in 7 TAs (Traditionnal Authorities) – Chiwalo, Jenala*, Kaduya, Mkhumba, Nazombe, Nkhulambe, Phalombe Boma -.

*Jenala is the TA where Inter Aide is currently working in WASH.

Jenala is one of the TAs with fewer access to safe water : less functionnal boreholes and shallow wells than in other TAs and less served by the major gravity fed systems that can be found in Phalombe district thanks to the water that can flows from the Mulanje Mountain.

Although the sanitation coverage is not so bad (almost 60% of households equipped with basic latrines), mots of these structures collapse during rainy season because they are of low standards and because of unstable soil (sandy, esp. in Jenala).

This situation leads to increased prevalence of water and sanitation related diseases which contribute to poor health. The mortality rate for under 5 children in Phalombe is the 2nd more important one of the country – 160‰.

TA jenala

Jenala is divided in 8 VDCs (Village Development Committee headed by Group Village Headmen) which corresponds to almost 65 villages and 20 000 families.

GVH Jenal 2016

Workshop done in February 2016

A workshop has been organized by Inter Aide, BASEDA and TIMMS in Lilongwe on the 25th of February 2016 in order to give more ”visibility” to the existing networks of hand pump technicians and spare parts retailers (RUWASO included).

A communication document is summarizing the main outputs of this workshop  – AM-and-shop-network-workshop-synthesis-feb-2016 – and is also summarized below…

Around 50 participants attended the meeting : representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development , District Water Officers, Donors, NGOs and stakeholders involved in WASH and maintenance activities, as well as representatives of hand pump mechanics and partners’ shops owners.

group'photo I.A Meeting 25-02-16 (2)

Several objectives have been achieved during this event:

1. It was the opportunity to clarify and explain methodologies* :

  • How are identified / created / trained the people composing these networks
  • What are their daily tasks and how they are working
  • The way Inter Aide, BASEDA and TIMMS are monitoring results, evolution and quality of the services provided

*And to illustrate the fact that they are in direct line with national guidelines (indeed some have been directly inspired by Inter Aide – BASEDA’s approach…)

testimonies during WSHop

Area Mechanics and spare parts retailers gave their testimonies on their job, in parallel was displayed the different tools used at the different steps.

see also www.interaide.org/watsan/malawi/index.php/maintenance-program-tool-box/

2.The results achieved so far have been presented to the audience 

  • Evolution of the number of interventions done by the AMgraphe AM
  • Evolution of sales for the shopssales evolution

The comparison year after year of the total quantity of spares purchased by the shops shows that despite the fact that some actors are rehabilitating for free, RUWASO appears after some months as an efficient local solution to maintain the link between communities, isolated shops and suppliers.

  • Coverage of the services…

AM intervention in 2015

 3. It has been an example of brainstorming and an important step for a better coordination on the questions of quality and sustainability of these networks

Indeed, during working groups and through testimonies it has been possible to draw some possible solutions to overcome the existing challenges :

  • P1090752Mr Smorden Tomoka, WASH project officer for the NGO Concern Universal, gave his testimony of the collaboration officialised by a Memorandum Of Understanding with Inter Aide and BASEDA :
    • New shops that have been identified and trained by Concern Univ. in Dedza have been selected in order to avoid competition with the existing shops. The follow-up has then been transferred to BASEDA
    • For rehabilitation of water points that Concern Univ. identified as priorities, they are managing the civil work and they are mandating the Area Mechanics  for hand pumps renovation.
  • P1090757Mr Waki Martin Chungwa, District Water Development Officer for the district of Salima, presented how the hand-over for the monitoring of the activities Area Mechanics is on-going : what is the reinforcement of capacities provided by Inter Aide in terms of methodology ? How information is collected ? The human resources and budget allocated for these specifics tasks.

P1090744
Synthesis of the brainstorming:

Challenges

 

***

Link to the powerpoint and videos used during the workshop:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i7qy04i4liykcdv/All%20ppt%20workshop2.pptx?dl=0

Evolution of the progression of the maintenance services from 2008 to 2013

The following document summarizes the results of follow-up of number of interventions of the Area Mechanics as well as the evolution of purchases from the partners’ shops since 2008 in the district of Salima, Mchinji, Dowa and then since 2011 in Ntchisi and Kasungu up to end of 2013.

image synthèse 2013illustration synthèse

You can also go on Pratiques website : www.interaide.org/pratiques/sites/default/files/synthesis_maintenance_services_ia_malawi_-_feb_2015.pdf

In brief, concerning Area Mechanics…

It has been observed  a progression since the beginning to reach almost 2 000 contracts a year in total (all AMs and all 5 districts included). Salima is the district where there is more interventions.

evolution AM 2008 2013repartition AM 2008 2013

1 pump for 4 has been repaired or maintained by an Area Mechanic.

In brief, concerning Shops and evolution of sales…

These figures are the number of spares parts that the shops bought to Inter Aide who was linking at that time (before the creation of RUWASO) suppliers and small shops.

Except in Salima, which after a high peak there was a decrease, the purchases (and therefore the sales by the customers) have increased. 

sales shops 2008 2013sales 5 wearing parts

Same follow up but only for the year 2013 has been made by BASEDA and TIMMS:

Next post will summarizes the evolution in terms of profit for AM and shops…

 

The official guidelines related to maintenance

The Jica (Japan International Cooperation Agency) supported the government of Malawi and the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development by creating and editing several manuals and official guidelines concerning the maintenance of water points with their translation in chichewa (12 series in total), including:

Inter Aide (and BASEDA) have been notably and highly consulted for the development of the series concerning these two last points (AM and supply chain). Lot of tools, illustrations have been selected trough the example and experiences of Inter Aide. No doubt that inter Aide (and BASEDA) approaches are in direct link with these national guidelines.

What is an Area Mechanic ?

Area Mechanics or Hand Pump technicians are able to repair or diagnose hand pump within their catchment area. One hand pump technician has from 50 to 100 hand pumps to cover, mostly Afridev ones (some districts are also equipped with Malda pumps).

AM en train de scierThey can intervene in case of breakdown but they are also proposing contracts for servicing to help the community for preventive maintenance (3 to 4 visits a year).

They are officially recognized by the government and the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development.

Area Mechanics are identified and then trained by Inter Aide or BASEDA / TIMMS by looking for skilled persons among the communities and according also to the recommendations of the Water department and District Council. This is also taking into account the needs in the area targeted : number of pumps that one person can supervised, according to distances and accessibility, avoiding also competitions between AMs so that each how them can gain benefits from this activity.

In 2016, there are 388 AMs in Malawi who have been trained by Inter Aide – BASEDA – TIMMS, see details on the map.

The complete list of AMs (and partners shops) for 2016 is available here: BROCHURE List of all AM SHOPS