Pump Aid to expand their Elephant Pump programme in Zimbabwe with UK lottery funding

The Big Lottery Fund in the UK has announced a grant of GBP143,038 to the NGO Pump Aid over the next two years. Ian Thorpe of Pump Aid says that “with matching funds from AquAid, this grant will allow Pump Aid to establish sustainable supplies of clean drinking water for at least 120,000 of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in Zimbabwe. Over 80,000 people will also benefit from increased agricultural production as they use Elephant Pumps to establish nutrition gardens during the dry season along with fruit tree and livestock projects. In a partnership with the Biological Research and Training Institute (BRTI), Pump Aid will work to enhance the impact of improved sanitation and clean water provision by facilitating community based learning to increase hygienic practices. At least 50,000 children and poor villagers are expected to gain access to improved latrines and facilities to wash their hands.

Productive use of the new water supplies will allow beneficiaries to generate income from their Elephant Pumps through a variety of means. Several cooperative groups will be able to start production of bricks and tiles, but the most common uses will be for irrigation and livestock projects. Dry season irrigation of nutrition gardens will provide food security in areas prone to drought, since the design and placement of pumps allows a sustainable harvest of groundwater even after several years with poor rains. In some cases, the pumps will be used to sustain field crops through dry periods in poor rainy seasons, but the primary use will be to establish small irrigated plots which can include integrated livestock projects and tree nurseries.

Those targeted by this project will include a large number of AIDS orphans. If a village pump is placed at a child-headed homestead where the parents have died from AIDS, it will make those children the gate-keepers of an important resource for the surrounding villagers. This will raise the social status of children who are often stigmatised and excluded due to negative perceptions surrounding those affected by AIDS. A large number of households will be able to collect clean water from each pump and a communal vegetable garden will often be established at the site. Due to proximity of the water source, the direct benefit to the AIDS orphans will be especially significant.”