Mobile payment systems to reduce rural water risks in Africa

30多年来，手泵的社区管理一直是非洲农村供水的公认思维模式。这一模式支撑着每年投资数亿美元以减少机构和运营水风险的基础。这种模式的逻辑如下：（a）与遥远和不负责任的机构相比，水用户自行组织管理和监测服务交付的机构风险较小;（B）当地机械师经过培训，能够及时和低成本地维护系统，业务风险较小。在非洲，三分之一的手泵在任何时候都无法运行，与1990年相比，2011年没有农村供水服务的人口增加了3 500万（世卫组织/儿基会，2014年），证据清楚地表明，社区手泵管理存在重大和广泛的缺陷，妇女和儿童受到的影响最大。严重但可以避免的健康，财富和贫困影响使非洲落后于全球普及供水服务的努力，每两个农村非洲人中就有一个缺乏改善的供水。该研究项目旨在通过确保支付风险来改善手泵管理。就像保险产品可以将意外但代价高昂的事件的风险集中在一起，比如汽车抛锚、洪水对房屋的破坏或严重的健康问题，我们建议将同样的方法应用于肯尼亚农村的社区手泵。目前，农村社区必须独立工作，根据具体情况储蓄和支付生活费。这是好的，直到一个意想不到的，但昂贵的修复出现。然后，社区，其中包括大多数家庭与低收入和可变收入，根本无法支付他们的手泵维修。然后，他们转向更遥远的，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，通过在数百个手动泵之间共享来降低成本。早期的研究表明，大多数社区将定期支付给这个“保险系统”，只要手泵在几天内得到修复。该项目可以保证这种更高的维护服务，将维修时间从一个多月减少到几天。社区喜欢它的维护服务目前的审判，现在想通过当地公司支付这项服务，使其可持续发展。下一阶段的研究是引入一个公平的支付系统，并监测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方法提供证据。如果成功，我们希望该模式将提供一个更坚实和更可持续的金融模式，以保持肯尼亚和其他地区贫困农村社区的水资源流动。这将有助于改善可能数以百万计的人的健康和福利，特别是妇女和女孩，当手泵失灵时，她们受到的打击最大，她们必须步行数英里为家人寻找替代水源。

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.