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Results of the initial survey made end of 2010 in Sierra Leone for the districts of Bo, Koinadugu andTonkolili on 2’854 water points regarding the status of the infrastructures. This study is a detailed analyze of the current conditions of wells and boreholes equiped with hand pumps in rural areas of Sierra Leone.
The document has been published on the website of Inter Aide here.
Maintenance versus reparation: a document to explain during meetings the difference between maintenance and reparation by using illustrative examples of thedaily life .
Document available here: www.interaide.org/pratiques/sites/default/files/ia_sierra_leone_messages_for_maintenance_promotion.pdf
Member of the team doing maintenance sensitization: after taking some examples comparing what has to be done to continue to use motorbike, or what has to be done to make sure your children are healthy and comparing with hand pump, the facilitator is showing pictures illustrating costs of maintenance…
The development of a network of skilled Pump Officers aims at providing an immediate and local response to the unforeseen pump breakdowns faced by communities among the district. But it is also a way to allow the communities to enter in a cycle of yearly preventive maintenance of their water supply systems through yearly preventive maintenance campaigns, when they operate a complete diagnosis and a basic maintenance of the systems (cleaning pipes and parts, changing wearing parts…).
These yearly campaigns of maintenance are organised and grouped during one quarter (October, November and December), the best timing for the communities since they get some funds from cropping at this period, increasing their capacity to finance the maintenance. Some weeks before, the assigned Pump Officer visits his communities, with the support of the project at the beginning, to remind them that it is time to do their preventive maintenance and to collect the necessary contributions. This preliminary campaign can be considered as a “promotion tour” while the Pump Officers can make an appointment with the communities for their preventive maintenance. Then, according to the date picked by the community, they operate the yearly maintenance, equipped with the adequate tools and wear parts that are directly purchased by them, in shops pre-identified by Inter Aide.
The Pump Technicians are selected based on their technical and pedagogical skills as well as how they are perceived by the communities and the Local Authorities (Paramount Chief). Depending on the number of pumps and the accessibility, there are between 1 and 3 Pump Officers per chiefdom.
Other criteria appears essential as well: ability to read and write (mainly for the reporting), behaviour and team spirit, seriousness, conflict management, ability to convince and to sensitize communities, ability for self-promotion, etc.
They are involved throughout all processes of the project in order to familiarise with their job and to progressively become autonomous.
HPT under training a woman pump caretaker – evaluation of his pedagogical skills
During 6 months to 1 year, the potential Pump Technicians are involved on all the diagnosis, repairs and maintenances done in their chiefdom under the supervision of Inter Aide. The team plays an active role while developing the skills of the Pump Technicians by gradually involving them in the conduct of the operations, so that they can be ready to do the future preventive maintenances and reparations. It’s a good way to assess their existing knowledge, to train them on the strategy and to reinforce their technical and social skills.
Depending on the number of candidates, the size of the chiefdom and the number of hand pumps to cover, between one and three Pump Officers are finally selected per chiefdom and will attend the training of the Water Supply Division.
For the final selection it is important to not focus only on the technical skills of each candidate. Indeed some others are as much important and more difficult to improve. For instance, the social skills like the way to sensitize, advise and convince a community or the ability to manage a conflict are very useful to develop and run this kind of activity. The behaviour and the team spirit are also some important qualities that must be taken into account.
Once the potential Pump Officers has been identified, another 3 to 4 days training is organised in partnership with the Water Supply Division of Bombali District with representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources from Freetown.
This training session tackles different aspects of the work as Pump Officers and alternates with theoretical, technical and practical training:
Pump Technician ID card
At the end of this training session each Pump Officer receives his “hand pump technical training certificate” and his ID card. These documents are the proof that the technician is entitled by the government and Inter Aide to work on hand pumps for the well-being of communities. Indeed, it is very important for the Pump Officers to get this certificate, since some communities are quite mistrustful of fake technicians that could steal their pump or replace original parts by fake ones.
The letter in link here is also a document kept by the hand pump technician and has been signed by the Water Directorate and proved his certification : Letter for PO certification by WD
The Pump Officer receives his tool box at the end of the certification training. A money contribution of 25% of the total cost of the box is asked to each Pump Officer (100,000 Le[1] in one shot, balance deducted from the following workmanship). The contract includes a clause to get the tool box back from the Pump Officer in case of breaking-off for any relevant reason.
[1] Approximately 22 USD (1 USD = 4,500 Le)
Agreement for bicycle: to support the Pump Officers for their Promotion tour and the follow up of their communities, Inter Aide proposes to provide a bicycle for a contribution of Le 100,000 (real cost = Le 350,000) in one shot.
After each interventions, the pump technician is filling a report:
This report, called “Pump Officer declaration of intervention” exists in two different versions depending on the type of pump repaired or maintained: IM2, PB2 and Japanese below or Kardia 65/2000. At the end of each job, the Pump Officers have to fill this report with the secretary of the Water Committee, in the presence of the other members. Two copies have to be filled: one for the community and one for Inter Aide (then photocopied for the WSD and each Pump Officer).
This report has two main purposes. On one hand, it allows the community to keep an update of what has been done on their pump (type of intervention), which part has been replaced and the total cost of the intervention (including chlorination if hand dug well[1]). It also serves as a receipt and a proof of payment, compulsory condition for transparency.
On the other hand, this report is submitted by the Pump Officer to Inter Aide and then to the WSD. The information is immediately recorded in an database. This allows analysing the maintenance activities: status of each pump, number, type and frequency of replaced parts, total cost of each intervention, coverage and respect of preventive maintenance, etc. It is also a good tool to follow the evolution and the progress of each Pump Officer’s activities: potential number of pumps, number of pumps repaired/maintained, generated incomes, etc.
[1] Boreholes are not chlorinated to avoid the corrosion of their casing (most of them have been built with galvanized casing). Moreover, the risk of contamination from outside is reduced with this type of construction.
To help them in their job, Inter Aide developped simplified hand pump maintenance guidelines that they can keep as a reminder (a summary of the complete ones) + guidelines for well chlorination:
They have, as water committees, hand-pump price lists that enable them to quote their intervention :
In order to increase their visibility among the communities, apart from the sensitization Inter Aide is doing toward water committees, some promotional means are used such as:
The following documents have been created to help technical persons for operating the installation and the maintenance of the pumps:
There is also a guide here for the chlorination of the wells.
The short note in link gives some key elements on the following questions: What is the cost of maintaining a pump in rural areas? How much does it represent per family user? Is it affordable? How can these contributions be organised and managed at village level?
The main conclusion is that, once a pump is restored to a certain standard, its yearly maintenance is relatively cheap and can, in most of the situations, easily be afforded and managed by the users, providing that some conditions are fulfilled.
www.interaide.org/pratiques/sites/default/files/howmuchitcost_march_2014.pdf 
A survey conducted from October to November 2011 in the 7 chiefdoms targeted by the program in the South Bombali District showed that among the 569 hand dug wells and 110 boreholes that have been identified, only 66% of them were functional. This park of hand pumps is also ageing and quite varied: India Mark 2 (71%), PB Mark 2 (12%), Kardia (7%), Afridev, etc.
It is therefore difficult for the communities to have an easy access to spare parts when their pumps are broken as such variety of models of hand pumps scatters the demand and makes difficult establishing a sustainable suply chain at local level.
Hand pump made in India: galvanized or stainless type. In Sierra Leone, this pump is available in most of the suppliers at a reasonable cost for stainless type (around 2.900.000 SLL) and offers a good quality for its price. A regular maintenance is compulsory to ensure the sustainability and avoid major breakdown. The installation process is also really important and has to be done properly (iron rods lengths, cylinder position from the bottom, hand pump stand straight…).
Hand pump made in Germany: K65 and K2000 types. Kardia is one of the strongest pumps of the market but is really expensive compare to an Indian Mark 2 (around 12.000.000 SLL). Most of these pumps were installed during the relief period when the funds were highly available. The main problem is that spare parts are quite expensive and very difficult to find.
Tools |
For who ? |
Link |
1. Community training reporting: template to record general observation during each water committee training and framework to fill the template
Keep a factsheet on strengths and weaknesses of the community targeted |
Animation team | Community training reporting template Community training reporting template guidelines |
2. Water Committee training form: template to formalise the water committee upon training completion
Have a record of the training for the Organisation but also for the community (2 copies) |
Animation teamWater committees | WC Training Form_1 WC Training Form |
3. Water Committee follow up: framework to get updates in a community trained by the Organisation
Make effective a spot visit within a community |
Animation team | Water Committee Follow up |
4. Communities follow up: general checking of the community before and after the first shot
Get a quick overview of the community’s organisation following Inter Aide’s intervention |
Management team | Communities follow up guidelines |
5. Community members assessment: list of questions to interview community members out of the water committee
Make sure the water committee trained is having interactions with the community people and the purpose of this type of organisation is understood by everybody |
Animation team and management team | Community members assessment_2 |
6. Water Committee assessment: check list to evaluate the knowledge of the water committee’s members once the first shot has been done
Determine knowledge retention and plan a refreshing training if necessary |
Animation team | Water Committee assessment |
