Starting out in Malawi

by Sharon Brand-Self,
WaterAid's Media Relations Manager

Boyce Nyirenda's enthusiasm is infectious. His dedication and commitment to WaterAid's work in Malawi is inspiring development throughout his district. He explained to Sharon Brand-Self how WaterAid's new work began.

In September 2000 Boyce Nyirenda was recruited as a WaterAid project officer responsible or the Salima district, bordering Lake Malawi. "My first task was to understand the water and sanitation situation in the region. I knew it was important to make friends with the right people who could help the process of change," says Boyce.

He made formal visits to area chiefs and village headmen who, in a tribal society, held the key to working with communities.

The next move was to ensure the right structure was in place for implementing work and Boyce decided that working with the existing government District Assembly would be the best approach.

The District Assembly suggested that WaterAid should start work in the Traditional Authority area of Kuluunda.

This is one of the poorest areas of the district with sandy soil making it difficult to construct latrines. They were giving Boyce the toughest job first!

Boyce visited the Traditional Chief of Kuluunda to acquaint himself to her and find out if the Area Development Committee (ADC) was functioning.

As village headmen were part of the committee, this group, responsible for assessing need and initiating development plans, would give him direct contact with communities. However, Boyce discovered that it wasn't functioning: members didn't know they were members and no development work was taking place.

"WaterAid's philosophy is about empowering people in decisions that change their lives. These groups were the best way of getting discussion flowing throughout all levels of society," says Boyce, who then called meetings and brought in the Government District Water Coordinator.

Once the groups started meeting Boyce's work progressed. He took some group members to Northern Malawi to learn from water and sanitation work being implemented there.

The Traditional Chief of Kuluunda also went to see how chiefs were involving the community in decisions and how communities contributed money and time to the projects. Everyone came back extremely motivated and started to believe in a future where their communities had clean water and sanitation.

WaterAid assisted in a count of water and sanitation facilities in Kuluunda which Boyce translated into the local language, Chichewa, so that everyone could understand. "People's jaws dropped when they realised how bad the problem was," he said. "They couldn't believe that there was one village that had no latrines. I could see that their hearts were now set on changing these terrible statistics."

WaterAid proposed to install four pilot water pumps, and four open wells that were drying up were chosen as sites for these projects. With help from the ADC, Boyce started to mobilise communities to explain the benefits of water and sanitation.

'I am proud to say we are the first non governmental organisation in Salima to be implementing our work through ADCs, which I think is the best way of making sure communities are properly involved in the improvement of their lives,' says Boyce.

He told the communities that they were expected to contribute 5% of the cost of the pump, make the bricks, quarry stones and sand from the lake and provide labour for the project.

People in Malawi are used to the Government being responsible for constructing water supplies. If people were lucky enough to get a handpump they were told not to touch it if it broke down. A lack of government resources meant that if no one came to fix them, people were powerless, waiting for help.

This lack of community ownership meant people were concerned about contributing 5% of the costs.

"I told them it was like owning a bicycle," Boyce explained, "they didn't take it back to the person who sold it when it needed repairing - they fixed it. Their handpump would be the same. They would be trained to fix it themselves.

I also explained that water isn't totally free. WaterAid realises they can't afford the total costs so they will help them, but by contributing their bit they would become the owners." In response one community member shouted 'We wouldn't take a shirt back to the shop when it's dirty, would we?'"

Once communities saw the need for water and sanitation and had agreed to contribute funds they started to get prepared, making bricks and collecting sand and stones.

A WaterAid engineer then told them how to maintain and fix pumps. To afford the parts needed for repairs the communities organised contributions to save funds for the future. They would be accountable and responsible so that WaterAid could move on and help others.

"I felt proud to see people excited about helping themselves. These weren't just helpless people," says Boyce. "In one case a pump broke down shortly after construction. Our engineer went to look at it but found that the community had fixed it by the time he arrived. That was the proudest moment of my life!"

Salima District has ten Traditional Chiefs and therefore ten areas. To date WaterAid is working with Traditional Areas of Kuluunda, Maganga and Pemba. Boyce's persuasion, diplomacy and enthusiasm are helping WaterAid to implement sustainable projects that are transforming people's lives.

Message from Giles Bolitho, Lions Multiple District 105, International Relations Coordinator,

"Lions Multiple District 105 are delighted to support the vital work of WaterAid in Malawi. We have seen our donations put to very practical and effective use providing a greatly improved quality of life and a sustainable source of clean, safe water."

Find out more about our work in Malawi