Play Pump Clean Water Global Involvement Implementation Failures Maldevelopment
Description
In the early twenty-first century, there was an exciting new concept to derive clean water from deep underground aquifers. Traditional water pumps require a significant amount of labor, which is often difficult in communities with many older people, women, and children. The Play Pump was an innovative idea that gained a lot of international attention and funding (Public Broadcasting System). The concept instituted a large metal wheel that resembled a merry-go-round. Children would play on it, spinning it around, and thus pumping water. Extra water would be stored in a water tower where people could purchase advertising space, generating money for maintenance. The first Play Pump, implemented in 2005, was a great success. In 2006, the project gained international traction (Chambers, 2009), even receiving 16.4 million dollars presented by Laura Bush, who was First Lady of the United States (Stellar, 2010).
After gaining much attention and funding, dozens of Play Pumps were installed throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. They were successful only for a short time before many problems arose. Those in charge of implementing them failed to take into account various aspects of the communities they were working in. In some areas, water was far too scarce, and the Play Pumps were only able to generate water for a short time. In other areas, the population of the community didn’t consist of many young children who could use the pump. Instead, the elderly and adult women were left to use it, which was more laborious for them than the original infrastructure (Murphy, 2013). In other places still, the planned advertisements on the water towers did not sell, meaning there was no money for maintenance when the pumps fell into disrepair. Play Pumps replaced the original water pump infrastructure in place, and when they failed for several communities, people were left with few options for clean water. After the initial success of the Play Pump, those who built them abandoned the project, never returning to ensure their project actually helped the people in the communities where they were installed. This left tens of thousands of people without the clean water initially promised. (Stellar, 2010)
Public Broadcasting Service. (n.d.). Frontline/world | Southern Africa: Troubled water | synopsis and video. PBS. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/southernafrica904/video_index.html.
Stellar, D. (2010, July 1). The Playpump: What `went wrong? State of the Planet. Retrieved December 10, 2021, from https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2010/07/01/the-playpump-what-went-wrong/.
Lessons Learned
This is an example of developers not understanding the true needs of the community. If there had been extensive research beforehand on the climate of the region and the demographics of its people, it would have been clear the Play Pump would not be effective everywhere, saving unnecessary harm.
Case Study Evaluation using Project Evaluation Tool
Inadequate (given from an average score of 1.5 across the 7 values of worthwhile development)
Well-Being
Score: 1/5
Play Pumps, intended to replace water pump infrastructure, failed, leaving communities without reliable water, negatively impacting their well-being. The project’s failure to address these issues leads to low satisfaction among affected communities and stakeholders.
Equality
Score: 2/5
The affected community does not inch any closer to equality on an economic or social level. Furthermore, the lack of access to water has burdened the community with higher resource inequality than existed with prior infrastructure. Limited focus on equality, with significant disparities or discriminatory practices that require attention.
Human Rights
Score: 1/5
The project negatively impacted communities’ access to clean water, violating human rights principles and causing harm without adequate protections throughout its lifecycle, highlighting the importance of ensuring clean water access for all.
Cultural Freedom
Score: 3/5
The Play Pump is a net neutral in promoting cultural freedom, albeit with some gaps where cultural values are not fully considered.
Agency and Empowerment
Score: 1/5
The Play Pump project, intended for children to play, failed in communities with small young children and elderly populations. The project forced hard labor and violated their sense of empowerment, resulting in little self-sufficiency and autonomy. The study failed to promote self-determination among stakeholders.
Responsibility
Score: 2/5
The intended population did not request defunct water pumps, and the Bush administration’s lack of global human rights advocacy and ethical concerns highlight their limited commitment to responsibility.
Sustainability
Score: 1/5
The Play Pump, despite initial success, failed to provide long-term benefits due to the developers’ abandonment and failure to address issues in various areas, resulting in a lack of meaningful sustainability measures and potential harm to future prospects.
