An emerging trend in the quest for sustainable development is the application of business solutions to social problems. Apart from the obvious advantages – real benefits to disadvantaged people – this new approach applies aggressive, cost-benefit models with specific earned income strategies to solving some of the globe’s most fundamental challenges.

One example that consistently elicits a “why didn’t I think of that” nod of approval is the PlayPump. The concept is simple: a water pump driven by children at play on a merry-go-round. Operating much like a windmill, the merry-go-round powers a pump system that propels water from underground and stores it in an overhead 2500 litre capacity storage tank. The stored water is accessed via a regular faucet with the turn of the handle.

Perhaps what’s most surprising about the PlayPump’s model is that, in spite of benefiting rural communities in South Africa for the past ten years and despite a World Bank award received in 2000, more potential participants, activists, governments and donors don’t know anything about it.

The PlayPump is a startlingly simple and effective innovation that succeeds in addressing a number of major development challenges. The first, and most obvious, is that it offers a renewable, self-sustaining system for supplying uncontaminated water to a community. The WHO confirms that the burden of disease from water, sanitation and hygiene represents is responsible for 4.0% of all deaths and 5.7% of the total disease burden (in DALYs) occurring worldwide.

The pump also addresses the critical issue of access, an issue that hits home particularly for women and girls. Collecting water in rural Africa is a time-consuming, back-breaking and often dangerous activity that, according to the WHO, consumes over 40 billion work hours of African labor. Because this chore is overwhelmingly undertaken by women and children, the time saved through the installation of a locally operational water supply will allow girls to attend school and women to concentrate on more productive activities.

(The consequences of inaction today are severe, according to WHO and UNICEF. Diarrheal disease currently takes the lives of 1.8 million people each year – most of them children under five – with millions more left permanently debilitated. Over 40 billion work hours are lost in Africa to the need to fetch drinking water. And many children, particularly girls, are prevented from going to school for want of latrines, squandering their intellectual and economic potential. Click here for more information)

Another effect is that it encourages school attendance in general. Because the merry-go-rounds are located inside schoolyards, children are motivated to show up, which in rural areas is more than half the battle.

Finally, the tank itself provides space for advertising that also serves as the source of funding for the cost of maintaining the system. Four billboards on the storage tank carry education, health and consumer product messages. As an early supporter, Coca Cola used the advertising space to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.

And of course, lest we forget, the merry-go-round is terribly fun. This is no small detail in communities where children lack toys – toys that are vital to children’s social and cognitive development.

The organizations behind the PlayPump offer a unique business model for development projects. While the NGO, PlayPumps International, relies on partnerships with local governments, corporations and the non-profit world to supply the boreholes and provide funding for the pumps, its counterpart, Roundabout Outdoor installs the pumps, sells the advertising, and guarantees that the pumps are maintained.

The PlayPump can pump up to 1400 litres per hour with less effort than other manually operated pumps. Installed at depths of between 40 and 100 meters, ease of use is critically important. Proximity to a schoolyard is also a major consideration as is the location of the tap away from the borehole to reduce the risk of contamination.

The cost of a PlayPumps system, including equipment, testing, setup, installation and training, is US$14,000. In addition, PlayPumps estimates that the drilling of a new borehole will cost between US$5,000 and US$10,000, although in some African countries prices have become inflated. To keep costs at a minimum, PlayPumps encourages a collaborative model that involves government and NGO participation. For example, when entering a new country, PlayPumps always tries to secure government commitments for boreholes that will then be matched by funding for pumps by private donors. UNICEF has also been instrumental in providing boreholes in a number of PlayPumps’ new locations.

To add to its current resume of around 700 pumps, which were installed in South Africa over a period of ten years, PlayPumps is now in the process of a major expansion, targeting Swaziland, Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi for 2006. Lesotho, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and possibly Ethiopia will be the beneficiaries of Phase II of the expansion. According to Jill Rademacher, head of PlayPumps USA, “The goal is to install at least 4,000 pumps and bring the benefits of PlayPumps to 10 million people by 2010.” Rademacher said that it will take the continued collaboration of government, foundations, corporations, NGOs and individuals – to realize this ambitious yet achievable goal. Achieving this should be child’s play.