Water Wellness

As a District Water Development Officer (DWDO) in Malawi, Mr. Chaponda has a tough job. He is tasked with the demanding role of coordinating, managing, and planning rural water infrastructure for the District of Karonga – a population of roughly a quarter of a million people, mostly living in villages. The funding to accomplish this is scant, making effective planning – or, more accurately, effective resource allocation – essential. Funds need to be targeted where they are needed most.

This alone is a daunting task for most DWDOs, who are often forced to rely on dated or even non-existent information to create such plans. The challenge of effective information collection, management, and use in decision-making is neither new, nor ambiguous – districts need reliable, up-to-date information to plan effectively. The question of how is a greater point of contention, sometimes highly political, especially when the focus of the debate shifts towards deciding what technologies should be used to manage information.

There is no shortage of technology available to map and manage information on water points. GPS, ArcView GIS, and Android phones are all hot technologies that do work for information management. But the question should not be one of technology, it should be one of appropriateness. Does the approach solve the fundamental problem of getting the essential, accurate, up-to-date information to District Officials so they can make better decisions?

There are important elements to tease out of this question:

• Essential: The data captured has to be relevant. It needs to contain the information needed to make the most important decisions such as where new water points and repairs are most urgently needed
• Accurate: An obvious, but important point.
• Up-to-date: The system needs to be easily updatable so the information is current. Access to water changes over time as people move, water points break down, and new ones are installed.
• Affordable: The recurring costs of the system should be easily manageable within the district’s budget. Again, an obvious but important (and often overlooked) point.
• Make better decisions: District officials need the skills to use the system effectively.

This kind of thinking illustrates some of the principles of Human Centred Design – the design focus should be on the people using the system, rather than having people adapt to the technology.

But traditionally this hasn’t been the case in water point monitoring in Malawi. GPS mapping, although highly effective under the right circumstances, is beyond the capacity of most District Governments to sustain independently. It requires substantial funding, familiarity with both GPS technology and GIS mapping software (the latter being quite sophisticated), and an intensive coordination effort. To date, it has always required donor funding and substantial technical assistance, making the system nearly impossible for districts to update independently. The most current water point database for Karonga is a GPS set from 2004.

A key part of EWB’s work over the last year has been helping to develop a district-appropriate water point monitoring system for use in Malawi, and the results so far have been encouraging. The core ideas came from a deeper investigation of two key areas: the existing capacity of District Governments, and their most essential information needs. Above all, simplicity was prioritized.

This approach led to an important realization: Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs) already collect information on water points as part of routine quarterly reporting. By facilitating collaboration between the Health and Water departments of District Government, the existing system could be adapted to gather the needed information for the Water Office. The greatest challenge was to identify the most critical data to be collected, so as to not overburden the existing system. (See my friend and colleague Owen Scott’s great post on the Intersection of What’s Important and What’s Possible)

The result was a database compiled by HSAs using existing District funding and staff to provide information on water coverage rates (to identify areas with low access to water) and on the functionality of water infrastructure in rural communities.

Using MS Excel, EWB designed a pivot table to automatically calculate water coverage and functionality rates, highlighting the areas of greatest need.

These calculations then automatically update a customized map of the District to show this information geographically, all in MS Excel.

I’ve worked in 6 Districts in Malawi on this system, and it is proving itself to be both highly effective and appropriate. It provides the essential information through familiar and readily available technology, while maximizing the use of existing District capacity. Nothing fancy – just simple, appropriate, and tailored to the needs of the user.

I think all of this makes a compelling argument for the system, but the system itself shouldn’t be the main point. The focus of district-level monitoring work should be on helping Mr. Chaponda to make better planning decisions – the system is only a vehicle. This is important to remember, but it can be easy for the focus to creep towards a technological debate. While getting the technology right is important, an even more critical step is the development of the relevant skills needed to wield that technology effectively. At the end of the day, the technology is only as effective as Mr. Chaponda’s ability to use it.

This will be a key focus of my work over the next few months. With the water point monitoring system already functioning in several Districts, training District Officials in evidence-based decision making with the system is the next step towards creating meaningful impact for rural communities. With only a few months left in the dry season to install new water points, there are opportunities for Districts to focus on the communities most in need, but only if they can use the information in the system effectively.

No matter how well-designed a monitoring system is, the real crux will always be the skill of the user.