It's a beautiful Saturday here in Machinga. Yesterday I had the interesting experience of buying a bicycle second hand. I strolled to the back of the market where dozens of bike mechanics hang out, and started gesturing and using English and very broken Chichewa. If that wasn't embarrassing (and outsider-ish) enough, I also tested out 3 different bicycles as 50 or so people watched me wobble around up and down the road. I’m getting much better at dealing with these kinds of experiences.
I did find one though after an hour or so, and I couldn't be happier. I'm looking forward to riding around town after I finish giving this update.
A few days ago Chris, Yesin (a Water Monitoring Assitant), and I went to test out the form that will be used by WMAs to survey the conditions of boreholes that may be selected for rehabilitation. What we found is that the boreholes that we saw only had a few broken parts that could easily have bee replaced if the Water Point Committee responsible for the well had taken action. If the rehabilitation project replaced these parts, we would only be contributing to the 'dependency syndrome' (as Chris calls it) that exists in the water sector.
The point of these rehabilitations is to deal with serious structural issues (e.g. concrete is broken, sediment has built up in the well, etc.) that require a contractor, as well as the establishment and training of a WPC to take ownership of the borehole). IGIP’s goal is not here to undermine community ownership and responsibility by replacing spare parts.
An added challenge is that these parts have not been replaced by the WPC in most cases because the WPC isn’t functional. So, essentially these communities are stuck. They have no functional water point committee, a non-functioning well, and a project that can't help them because it would undermine their ownership and responsibility.
One of the biggest themes I've observed on this project is the challenge that exists when trying to strike a balance between capacity building, community ownership, and technical work. You certainly can't have one without the other, which makes what IGIP is trying to do very difficult with the time and resources that they have to use.
One of the biggest themes I've observed on this project is the challenge that exists when trying to strike a balance between capacity building, community ownership, and technical work. You certainly can't have one without the other, which makes what IGIP is trying to do very difficult with the time and resources that they have to use.
Be well, and much love.
Kevin
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