Mobile payment systems to reduce rural water risks in Africa

移动支付系统可降低非洲农村水风险

• 批准号: ES/N000137/1
• 负责人: Robert Hope
• 金额: $ 22.63万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FN000137%2F1
• 关键词: Mobile; payment; systems; reduce; rural

Community management of handpumps has been the accepted mode of thinking for rural water supply over three decades in Africa. The paradigm underpins the hundreds of millions of US dollars invested each year to reduce institutional and operational water risks. The logic of the paradigm follows that (a) institutional risks are less where water users self-organise to manage and monitor service delivery compared to distant and unaccountable agencies, and (b) operational risks are less where local mechanics are trained to respond in timely and low-cost maintenance regimes. With one in three handpumps not functioning at any one time in Africa and 35 million more people without rural water services in 2011 compared to 1990 (WHO/UNICEF, 2014), the evidence starkly illustrates significant and widespread deficiencies in community handpump management with women and children impacted hardest. The significant but avoidable health, wealth and poverty impacts have left Africa lagging behind the global drive for universal water services with one in two rural Africans lacking improved water access. This research project aims to improved handpump management by insuring payment risks. Like insurance products that pool risk of unanticipated but costly events, like a car break-down, flood damage to homes or a serious health problem, we proposed to apply the same approach to community handpumps in rural Kenya. Currently rural communities must work independently saving and paying for maintenance on a case by case basis. This is fine until an unexpected but costly repair emerges. Then the communities, which include a majority of households with low and variable income, simply can't pay to have their handpump repaired. They then turn to more distant, often dirty and costly water sources. Our approach brings these communities together in a shared financial model that reduces costs by sharing them amongst hundreds of handpumps. Earlier research suggests the majority of communities will pay into this 'insurance system' on a regular basis provided the handpumps are repaired in a couple of days. The project can guarantee this higher maintenance service which has reduced repair times from over a month to a couple of days. The communities love it the current trial of the maintenance service and now want to pay for this service through a local company to make it sustainable. This next phase of research is to introduce a fair payment system and monitor how communities pay over time. This will provide evidence for a more sustainable approach which the Government of Kenya supports and can be scaled up by our regional partner, UNICEF. If successful we hope the model will provide a firmer and more sustainable financial model to keep water flowing for poor rural communities in Kenya and beyond. This will help improve the health and welfare of potentially millions of people, particularly women and girls who hit hardest when handpumps fail and they must walk miles to find alternative water supplies for their families.

三十多年来，社区管理手泵一直是非洲农村供水的公认思维方式。这一模式支撑着每年为减少制度性和经营性水风险而投入的数亿美元。这一模式的逻辑遵循的是：(A)与遥远和不负责任的机构相比，水用户自组织管理和监测服务提供的机构风险较小，(B)当地机械师接受培训，以及时和低成本的维护制度作出反应，操作风险较小。与1990年(世卫组织/儿童基金会，2014年)相比，2011年非洲每三台手泵中就有一台无法运行，没有农村供水服务的人数增加了3500万人，证据鲜明地表明，社区手泵管理存在重大和普遍的缺陷，受影响最大的是妇女和儿童。重大但可以避免的健康、财富和贫困影响使非洲落后于全球普及水服务的努力，每两个非洲农村人口中就有一个得不到改善供水的机会。本研究项目旨在通过为支付风险提供保险来改善手泵管理。就像那些汇集意外但代价高昂的事件风险的保险产品一样，比如汽车抛锚、洪水对房屋的破坏或严重的健康问题，我们提议将同样的方法应用于肯尼亚农村地区的社区手泵。目前，农村社区必须独立工作，在个案的基础上储蓄和支付赡养费。在出现意想不到但代价高昂的维修之前，这是可以接受的。然后，包括大多数低收入和可变收入家庭在内的社区根本无法支付修理手泵的费用。然后，他们转向更远的、往往是肮脏和昂贵的水源。我们的方法将这些社区聚集在一个共享的财务模式中，通过在数百台手泵之间分担成本来降低成本。早些时候的研究表明，只要手泵在几天内修好，大多数社区都会定期支付这一“保险制度”的费用。该项目可以保证更高的维护服务，将维修时间从一个多月减少到几天。社区喜欢目前的维护服务试验，现在希望通过当地公司支付这项服务的费用，使其可持续发展。这项研究的下一阶段是引入公平的支付系统，并监控社区如何随着时间的推移支付。这将为肯尼亚政府支持并可由我们的区域伙伴儿童基金会推广的更可持续的做法提供证据。如果成功，我们希望该模式将提供一种更可靠、更可持续的金融模式，为肯尼亚及其他地区的贫困农村社区提供源源不断的水资源。这将有助于改善可能数以百万计的人的健康和福利，特别是在手泵失灵时受影响最严重的妇女和女孩，他们必须步行数英里为家人寻找替代水供应。

项目成果

Insuring against Rural Water Risk - Evidence from Kwale, Kenya

农村水风险保险——来自肯尼亚夸勒的证据

• 发表时间: 2015
• 作者: Foster, T

Institutional pluralism and water user behavior in rural Africa

• DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105231
• 发表时间: 2021-02-09
• 期刊: WORLD DEVELOPMENT
• 影响因子: 6.9
• 作者: Koehler, Johanna;Thomson, Patrick;Hope, Rob
• 通讯作者: Hope, Rob

A multi-decadal and social-ecological systems analysis of community waterpoint payment behaviours in rural Kenya

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.07.026
• 发表时间: 2016-10-01
• 期刊: JOURNAL OF RURAL STUDIES
• 影响因子: 5.1
• 作者: Foster, Tirn;Hope, Rob
• 通讯作者: Hope, Rob

The FundiFix model: Maintaining rural water services

FundiFix 模式：维护农村供水服务

• 发表时间: 2016
• 作者: Hope, R.A.

A cultural theory of drinking water risks, values and institutional change

• DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.03.006
• 发表时间: 2018-05-01
• 期刊: GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE-HUMAN AND POLICY DIMENSIONS
• 影响因子: 8.9
• 作者: Koehler, Johanna;Rayner, Steve;Hope, Rob
• 通讯作者: Hope, Rob