Pump Repair Technicians must be trained within the context of the village in which they live. Any financial or material compensation must be negotiated between them and their neighbours. Here’s how we learned that lesson.
After the Liberian civil war that ended in 2004, an aid group received substantial international funding to teach job skills to “demobilized ex-combatants” or former soldiers so they could earn a living. The decision was made to train some of them as Pump Repair Technicians. For weeks, they were trained on how to use tools, how wells work, and how to take apart and repair every known Afridev hand pump problem.
The funder and aid group were happy to successfully complete a major development initiative. The former fighters were happy to be transitioned into a new career. Everyone was happy — until the last day of school when they were handed diplomas and learned there were no jobs. The surrounding villages already had their own Pump Repair Technicians and didn’t need more.
Pump thefts started early the following week. Villagers across the region started waking up to find their pumps had been stolen during the night. And pumps started showing up for sale in the local market — minus their ID number tags. Even the police approached Lifewater for a new pump after the one at the police station was stolen!
Eventually, Lifewater and other aid groups developed a metal security jacket which locks to the pump to cover all the bolts needed to take it apart. Theft has dropped dramatically and we have all learned a lot about the potential long-term consequences of short-term plans.
In the meantime, Pump Repair Technicians are still needed more than ever to help address the worldwide problem of pumps sitting broken. But training must happen not in a diploma-issuing school, but in village settings where there is a mutually agreed-upon need for a technician and a plan for him or her to be hired and paid.
Ongoing support and training, such as that gained through the “guided pump repair model,” will ensure that technicians gain the experience they need to keep safe water flowing in their communities.
