When charitable expectations and marketing collide
It seemed like such an attractive idea that it immediately generated $10 million of US funds and eventuated in a $60 million private-public joint venture. The concept is a marketers dream, and seemingly including a real contribution to the betterment of children’s lot in the drought-stricken Africa. The concept developed by Playpumps International sees a child’s merry-go-round, termed a Playpump, installed in a village. That sounds fun all by itself, but it is even better. The merry-go-round however is in reality a pump, and as the children play and play the merry-go-round spins a pump that elevated deep sourced water to above-ground holding tanks for use by the village. The marketing tag line makes it appear a proper little utopia: “Smiling, playing children, solving Africa’s water problems”.
The problem however lies in the amount of playing required. The African children would need to play and play for 27 hours a day, every day to provide 10 million people with water from the 4,000 Playpumps to be installed that the company projects. Using even the most conservative assumptions, a Playpump could theoretically provide the bare minimum water requirements for about 200 people a day based on two hours’ constant “play” every day – considerably less than its claimed potential. While the village is getting a very expensive merry-go-round, it may not have its water needs met.
Another charity active in water generation projects has some more direct observations as to why it won’t use Playpumps in its projects. WaterAid, one of the world’s biggest water charities, recently issued a statement outlining concerns over the high costs ($14,000, excluding drilling), the complexity of the pumping mechanism (making local operation and maintenance difficult), the reliance on child labor and the risk of injury. Unfortunately, we think the tag line -“Smiling, playing children, solving Africa’s water problems”- might be just a tad overly-ambitious
Sphere: Related ContentPlaypumps International, which provides water pumps for African villages, sounds like a marketing dream. Children play on a merry-go-round, and as they do so water is pumped from the ground for storage in an elevated tank.
Smiling, playing children, solving Africa’s water problems. It is an appealing image and one that has attracted millions of dollars in American government aid, backing from the likes of the Co-op and high-profile celebrity endorsements. The only problem is it has also been criticised by one of the world’;s leading water charities as being far too expensive, too complex for local maintenance, over-reliant on child labour and based on flawed water demand calculations. So, are we just buying into yet another feel-good marketing gimmick? And what does this say about the current state of the aid industry?
In 2006 the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) announced a $60m public-private partnership with Playpumps International, with $10m to directly come from the US government. As well as personal endorsements from both George and Laura Bush, the charity has the celebrity X-factor. Jay-Z raised $250,000 and DJ Mark Ronson pledged $1 per album sale to the charity. Large organisations have also been active in their support. The Co-op pledged that for every purchase of Fairbourne Springs mineral water, the company would make a charitable donation to go towards Playpumps. Millions of dollars are flowing, but is it just money down the drain?
Africa’s not-so-magic roundabout | Andrew Chambers | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
