PlayPumps International is scrambling to quadruple its production capacity and meet its targets as it prepares to supply 4 000 water pumps in 10 countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa by 2010.
Since its inception in 1997, the company has supplied about 900 of its brightly painted merry-go-round water pumps into rural and peri-urban areas in SA, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia that don't have access to water. The pumps are installed at sites where there are large gatherings of children, such as school playgrounds, clinics and community centres. The merry-go-round drives the pump, turning the tedious job of water collection into a fun-filled process.
Late last year the Bringing Water to the Poor Alliance, which includes the Case Foundation, the MCJ Foundation and USAid, committed US$16,4m to PlayPumps International over a three-year period with the aim of supplying clean drinking water to 10m people in the region.
Until now the pumps have been restricted to the rural areas of SA and its neighbours. The pumps cost R97 000 each. This includes the cost of the geo-hydrological survey, the drilling of the borehole, the supply and installation of the equipment and maintenance for 10 years. "Funding is always a problem, but we have been supported by the likes of Anglo American, Eskom, the Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, the US's ClearWater Project and Coca-Cola Africa. However, we have wanted to expand further beyond SA's borders for some time now," says Trevor Field, who heads PlayPumps International.
Steve Case, who launched America Online and sold it to Time Warner for US$4,7bn, first learnt of the company through the Clinton Global Initiative in 2005. "He was looking for some way to make a difference to the lives of 10m people," says Field. In 2006 he used the Clinton Global Initiative as a platform to announce this commitment.
In Africa a child dies every 15 seconds from diseases related to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene and, according to the 2006 Human Development Report released by the UN Development Programme, 1,1bn people do not have access to safe drinking water. The report estimates that over 76m people will perish from water-related disease by 2020 unless action is taken.
The company hopes to complete piloting in the first six of the 10 expansion countries by the end of 2007. "The support from countries like Zambia, Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania has been fantastic," says Field. "We can't proceed without it." In each country the company has to develop a working relationship with the government; establish the quantity and quality of water at the selected sites; identify community representatives and NGOs working in the areas of health and education to develop partnerships; and, finally, install the PlayPump system.
Also, funding remains an issue. Though it has the donor funding to pay for the equipment, the organisation is still dependent on funding support from the host country. "We don't do borehole drilling, so others - whether it's the government, NGOs or businesses - need to help us locate viable boreholes or donate drilling services for new boreholes. They need to become our partners and put some skin on the table."
SA, Lesotho and a few others, which each have been allocated 200 new pumps through the programme, have been slower to suggest sites.
The organisation, which was known as Roundabout PlayPumps, changed its name to PlayPumps International last year. "We were looking for donations and at the same time selling advertising on the two sides of the PlayPump water tank that are not reserved for HIV/Aids and other community messages. You can't do these two things in the same company." So, on the advice of the SA Revenue Service, Roundabout PlayPumps was split into two companies: PlayPumps International, which is registered as a not-for-profit company in the US and SA; and Roundabout Outdoor, the advertising and marketing company.
