Development of a curriculum and training of supervision teams in borehole construction in Malawi

The Government of Malawi through the Ministry of Water Development is committed to ensuring that people have convenient access to potable water. However, the water sector has suffered a number of weaknesses that include: • Lack of sustainability in most of the water supply and water borne sanitation infrastructure. • Poor service coverage • Declining, and in some cases, poor quality of key water sources. • A large number of boreholes are not fully functional because of poor siting, installation and workmanship. A demand responsive approach to borehole construction and maintenance, whereby user communities apply for facilities and establish maintenance infrastructures, is in operation. To facilitate this process, the Ministry of Water Development recognises the need to built capacity of various stakeholders through training. As part of this initiative, the Water and Sanitation Programme, Africa Region (World Bank) has funded the Ministry of Water Development to undertake a first phase of the required training. This included curriculum development and a pilot training course for technicians in borehole siting and construction supervision. The British Geological Survey was the lead consultant in this project, together with the University of Malawi and GITEC.