UPGro Hidden Crisis Research Consortium. Survey 1 Country Report, Malawi

Statistics on the functionality of water points from the Hidden Crisis project in Malawi are presented. The survey, undertaken in 2016, was focussed on boreholes equipped with handpumps (HPBs) within sedimentary and basement rock in Malawi across 5 districts. A stratified two-stage sampling strategy was adopted, and a tiered definition of functionality developed which enabled more nuanced definitions to be reported. The results from the survey indicate: • 74% of HPBs were working on the day of the survey (similar to national statistics) • 67% of HPBs passed the design yield of 10 litres per minute • 58% passed the design yield and also experienced < 1 month downtime within a year. • 41% of HPB’s passed the design yield and reliability and also passed WHO standards of water quality indicators (TTCs and inorganic chemistry). These figures provide a more detailed examination/understanding of the national functionality figures (MoWDI 2012 ). Both approaches show, that at any one point in time approximately 74% of HPBs in Malawi are working. The results from the more detailed Hidden Crisis survey across a sub-sample of HPBs across Malawi, indicate that 42% of the working HPB’s do not provide sufficient yield or reliability. This highlights the utility of carrying out more detailed assessments of functionality to help unpack national statistics. A linked survey of the performance of the water management arrangements at water points showed that for 86% of the survey sites water management arrangements were judged to be functional or highly functional.