July 6th is Malawi’s Day of Independence. We received a long weekend because of it and I spent the day introducing two of the other Jfs, Mariam and Melissa, who were visiting for the weekend, to my host community and, later, in the national park watching impalas, water and bush bucks, monkeys, and warthogs run around. (We also saw an elephant hugging a palm tree through binoculars and a python in a bush!!)

When I asked my boss at the water office about Independence Day, he told me it used to be a huge celebration. The national government would budget quite a lot of kwacha to throw huge festivities including traditional dance and music performances. Even at the local Traditional Authority level, villages would put on parties. However things have changed since Malawi became a multi-party state and independence is not really celebrated anymore, or at least so thoroughly. One reason that my boss said was that because Malawi is so dependent on foreign aid and NGOs, its citizens don’t really feel like Malawi is truly independent. I have heard this criticism from people and in newspapers here for awhile, especially towards the old President and her political party, who were criticized for being too under foreign organizations control.

It kind of turns the whole idea of “helping” people in countries in Africa through aid on its head, doesn’t it? We assume that the smiling child on our refrigerator is grateful for our support, that communities will be so happy once we pay for a well all the way from Canada. It’s interesting that the ‘beneficiaries’ of foreign aid resent this type of relationship and feel, understandably, that it is undermining their sovereignty.

Over time and especially after being more involved with Engineers Without Borders, I have come to the opinion that quick-fix, donation-based aid organizations are not really working with the people they are trying to support on a partnership level and therefore are not very sustainable. EWB often speaks about changing the systems that lead to poverty and inequality, which is unlikely from just building one latrine or giving away a goat to a family. Here with WatSan, the Malawian Water and Sanitation venture of EWB that I am working for, we are trying to support the government and the system as a whole to ensure service delivery and provision of clean water is long lasting and led by the government itself. The aim is to coordinate to provide these services, coordinate within district offices, within different levels of government and community groups, between sectors and NGOs.

So what happens when an NGO comes into a village without telling the District Water Development Office-DWDO- (or anyone in Malawi) and drills a borehole? Or digs a shallow well? Sure the community is happy and water is available. For a short time. I’m not an engineer, but I know that all mechanical things do break down at some point. By then, however, the NGO will be long gone, digging more boreholes in other districts without telling their DWDOs. If the parts were even made in Malawi and are available at the nearest trading centre, will the community raise the money? Will they know who to contact to fix it? Do these NGOs set-up any sort of Water Point Committee or train community members how to fix the boreholes? Do they utilize the structures already in place to ensure repairs are made?

I have heard of so many organizations in Canada claiming to provide clean water to people, deploring the contaminated water people have been drinking or the fact that women may have to walk kilometres to the nearest river. But indiscriminately digging wells is unsustainable and leads to low ownership and conflicting expectations of what the DWDO can do. It decreases people’s willingness to pay for repairs if they think an NGO might pop up again unexpectedly and build a new borehole. It decreases the efficiency and capacity of the government structures that are already trying to provide these services.

***

I think it’s easy for us in Canada to assume that there is no one doing the work that NGOs advertise they are doing.

People are dying from water-borne illnesses. Families cannot send their kids to school. Small scale farmers NEED training and access to markets. We can help! Donate now!

We forget that there is an entire ministry worth of people dedicated to water development, from the national level based in government to the more remote decentralized area mechanic who happily repairs boreholes for free or perhaps for a chicken or hot meal of nsima nyemba. As if there is no Ministry of Education or Ministry of Agriculture that are also trying to find solutions to these problems as well. I think that even after years of being ‘critical’ of development, I kind of forgot too. It’s easy to see NGOs claiming to “help” those in poverty and assume that without our aid, everyone would be without shoes or nutritious food. Otherwise why would they even be in those countries if there was no one else trying to create solutions?

So maybe I can’t blame the Americans who we met at the national park lodge, well-meaning, eager engineers who are here for two weeks to show surgeons google glasses that will provide a live, hands-on view of a surgery to a surgeon in America who will give tips and advice to the Malawian surgeon over obviously clear and consistent wifi. (Sorry I let a bit of sarcasm in, but I can’t exactly be critical of this idea because it’s not my place or in my zone of knowledge at all.) One of them had been asked by two NGOs to redesign (lol) a t-pump and, after many re-tests and trials and the realization that they should actually have asked the people who designed the original pump why they built it that way and work together, they designed a working pump and the NGOs went around digging shallow wells. I asked what was the involvement and communication with the District Water Development Office. Melissa asked why did they have to redesign the t-pump.

The Americans were kind of surprised to hear about the government’s involvement with providing water to its citizens. The girl who did the re-designing didn’t even think about it. And I can’t blame them in a way, if all you have been told is that there is a need for a redesign by these well-meaning NGOs who are providing water to ‘poor’ villagers. One of the professors (there were two with three of their students) said proudly how he thought NGOs and the government should work closely together, which I agree, but the way he said it was very much that the government should be keeping track. Somehow they should know exactly why every person is coming into their country, even when some lie and say they are tourists or “just visiting” to avoid visas and any complications.

Coincidentally, my boss was called in this morning (even though he had plans) by an NGO in the area that is very well known around the world. They finally were telling him about some boreholes they had drilled in a few TAs close to Liwonde. I asked if this communication was normal and he said no, but it was because of a larger district meeting they had last week and it was part of the follow up. Normally he will have to really push to hear what NGOs are doing in the water and sanitation sector, and he said they treat him suspiciously. NGOs don’t want to be supervised or nagged or perhaps they don’t want to be told that what they are doing is wrong or that they could be doing something better instead. That the village that is close to town with a mostly smooth road already has a gravity fed tap and a borehole and in fact it’s a community much further away along a dusty bumpy dirt road that could use one. Often, they won’t return phone calls or emails or show up to meetings.

There are so many NGOs with offices right here in Liwonde so they can’t use distance as an excuse; this prominent organization’s office is a ten minute walk away from the district office. So then districts may stop asking the NGOs and then the NGOs feel like they can let sleeping dogs lie and continue doing things without telling the district. Sometimes they maybe a slightly decent organization and will at least tell the district after the fact where they drilled the boreholes.

The District Executive Meetings are designed so that NGOs have to tell the district what they are planning on doing and get feedback. It works, but only if the NGOs actually agree to go and listen. Sometimes they will go and present what they will do, but leave after and never provide proof or an evaluation of what was done. Coordination and communication only work when both sides do it. It takes two to tango, or, perhaps a more appropriate saying, it takes two to lift an especially heavy bucket of water off of a person’s head. There’s also a lovely Malawian saying that goes “mutu umodzi susenza denga” – you can’t manage to lift a roof when you are alone.

I’m definitely not a concise writer, so I’d just like to summarize my main two points: firstly, don’t forget that whenever you hear about a problem or situation in another country, there is an entire government and community groups and individuals who are dedicated and care about the well being of people in their communities, districts, and countries and are trying their level best. Secondly, communication and coordination is hugely important. (Thirdly-Americans will make fun of you if you try to talk about constellations and also will tell you that hippos like to eat Canadian girls)