“Playpumps”; OR, “The post in which you see how messed up the development sector can really be!”

  (http://barefooteconomics.ca/2010/02/17/the-playpump/)

Playpumps are a type of water pump being heavily promoted by a number of NGOs. The idea behind playpumps is that they were supposed to be a more ‘sustainable’ water pump; easily marketed as something fun for kids to play on (kind of look like a little park merry-go-round) In reality, they are much less efficient than regular Afridev handpumps, and extremely expensive in comparison. You rarely see kids playing on them (unless a white person with a camera is nearby), and there have been reports that many kids have been injured by them.

Most people you talk to will say that they actually take a LOT more time and effort to pump water than regular pumps (link to video with Duncan). Yesterday we stopped at a school with a playpump, and a women getting water told us that she much preferred the handpump, as this one is extremely hard on her after spending a day in the field, and some women can’t even use it because its too difficult. At that school, the teachers reiterated their dislike of the playpump, saying they can’t pump enough water to water the school garden they had been encouraged to set up by the very same organization…Currently there are likely about 500 of these pumps installed in Malawi.

When we were chatting with Edwin at Chikwawa district, he explained that when an NGO approached them to install Playpumps, they wanted to do it as a pilot. The NGO wasn’t satisfied with this, so they later negotiated that they would just install them at schools without a water point – the idea was that if problems arise, they would just replace with AfriDev pumps – at least the borehold was already there.

In reality, the NGO didn’t abide by that agreement either, and has effectively been replacing functioning Afridev pumps with the playpump system. Which is absolutely ridiculous!!!Through a lot of advocacy, Edwin played a large role in convincing the national level that they should remove playpumps from all districts – when we visited the office, there was a playpump graveyard outside. The NGO is not taking this well, and arguing that another level of government told them it was okay, though this is not actually the case. District officials are put in a difficult place; some people in the water office don’t want to be open in criticism in case they completely lose support.

Edwin told us that recently the contractors hired (from a different NGO) to install playpumps went into one of the areas where a playpump had recently been removed and replaced with an AfriDev, and re-installed it So blatantly wrong!! This is also an illustration of the lack of understanding/communication between the different groups involved – the main NGO clearly is disconnected from the reality of their implementing NGO, whose staff see an incentive to see playpumps continue, and thus will go to lengths to see them remain

Playpumps are a great example of a highly marketable “solution” that is appealing to the Western public (most fundraising is done through selling CharityWater bottled water, often depicting the playpump) but that in reality is making peoples’ lives MORE miserable! To add another layer onto this, Playpumps are produced by a business, which initially operated its own NGO to fundraise for the pumps (conflict of interest much??). Since that time, the fronting NGO folded, but the company now sources pumps to a variety of NGOs and aid agencies.

Hopefully this gives some insight into the screwed up nature of the development sector! In Owen’s words, we should have |an international court of shitty development projects” – playpumps would easily be on trial.