News from Inter Aide | hand pump Maintenance, water and sanitation in Malawi

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…)

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

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

Evolution of the number of interventions done by the AM

Evolution of sales for the shops

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…

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 :

Mr 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.

Mr 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.