Rural Malawi Water Costs (4)
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Executive Summary – Effective January 1, 2024 the cost of a water well repair in rural Malawi will increase from $1250 to $1600.
Please read why!
History – When Child Legacy began their water well repair ministry in 2008 the cost of a repair was $1000/well. After being able to hold this cost for 8 years (2008-2015) an increase (simply due to inflation) needed to be made to $1250/well (25%). This was not because of a sudden, one-time, single-year 25% inflation bump! No, we realized that increasing the well cost every year by 3 or 4 percent would be too confusing for donors who like to sponsor one or more wells each year. It was much better to have an impactful one-time increase to offset future year’s inflation increases.
Today – Well, after 8 years (2016-2023) of holding the cost to $1250/well inflation has caught up with us again and we have to increase the cost to $1600/well repair (28%). Inflation has been bad not just in America, but in Malawi as well. In fact it is worse. For example, diesel fuel in Malawi is currently $6.50/gallon and headed to $7.00/gallon!! Current annual inflation in Malawi is between 30% and 40%!
Cost/Well – For those who like statistics below is a well repair cost breakdown (based on 720 “kits”):
Parts (India & Malawi), Shipping, Importing, Driving Indian shipment from Mozambique to Malawi (36.1%)
Salaries, Fuel, Insurance, Pump Repair Crew's Vehicle Maintenance (47.2%)
Contingency, inflation (16.7%)
Not included are PayPal / bank fees for online donations (if not covered by the donor), website host costs, and donor platform costs.
Cost/Beneficiary – I recently did a beneficiary cost analysis of the number of beneficiaries of all 5,616 well repairs (2008 through the first 9 wells of 2023) from a massive spreadsheet that has data on every well repair since day 1!
10,479,273 (!) rural Malawians have received clean water at the 5,616 Child Legacy well repairs! So, what has been the cost of bringing water per Malawian at $1000/repair and $1250/repair and what is the expected cost per Malawian at $1600/repair? We know the exact numbers for 2008-2015 and 2016-2023. For 2024+ I am conservatively assuming 1500 beneficiaries/repair (the 16 year average has been 1866) and optimistically assuming 300 well repairs! The cost of providing clean water FOR 5 YEARS:
At $1000/repair (2008-2015) was 49 CENTS!!
At $1250/repair (2016-2023) was 75 CENTS!!
At $1600/repair (2024-31(?)) will be 107 CENTS!!
Annual Bang for Your Buck – So, what is our expected cost per beneficiary per year at $1600/well repair? It's 21 CENTS!! As you can see Malawians are still getting a huge bang for your buck! It's a highly efficient program! Your dollar still goes a very, very long way!! I wish Jennifer and me received one water bill per year for 42 CENTS!!
Prayer Requests – Please pray that this increase will not adversely affect our donor base and ultimately the people of rural Malawi. Please also pray that we can hold costs to $1600/well repair for at least the next 8 years. Finally, please pray if you have sponsored one or more wells in the past, you will be able to continue to support the ministry (even if you can’t sponsor a full well repair at these new costs).
Final Words – Our crew is still working! If anyone would like to sponsor a 2023 well repair at 2023 costs (or give any amount for that matter) before the end of the year that would be awesome! Interesting Fact: 31% of all giving in the U.S. is in the month of December! Also, 12% of all giving in the U.S. is in the final 3 days of the year!
End of 2023 Opportunity – If you have given before but can’t remember if you have given in 2023, I have a record of everyone who has! So, if you intended to give in 2023 (and would still like to), I can tell you if you have or not! Just ask me!
Consider Giving Here – http://www.CleanWaterClimb.net/Mike-Navolio before the well sponsorship increases from $1250/well to $1600/well! I am currently at $256,328 or 102.5% of my goal for 2023! Thank you and To God Be the Glory!!
Some Pictures to Peruse –
