In Kananga, I THINK the majority of people who consume the water are not the people who get the water. That is, the typical woman who is standing in line at the water source is probably a poorer, younger woman who is inkling out a meager daily living for her family. She is delivering water to make a living. She is a self employed entrepreneur. We must determine if I am right or wrong. If I am right, that woman is different from the typical mother or woman of the household or family.
If you look at the video, you will see that the overwhelming majority of the women are collecting water in basins. To me, the use of basins indicate that the water women are taking the water to a house to fill a large storage container like a barrel. If a woman came to the water source with a 25-liter, then they are storing the water in that container. It is easier and FASTER to fill a large water barrel from a basin than trying to empty a jug into that barrel.
I have observed the water women who bring water to our house in Kananga. Typically, they work in a group of two or three women. Maybe for safety, but probably more out of companionship, comradeship, and to encourage one another. Just imagine, it would be boring to walk the same path from a customer’s house to the water source and back to the house. To fill a 200-liter barrel means that a water woman would have to make the trip eight times carrying a 25-liter basin on her head. Or if it's two women working together it would take only four trips. At least, they can move on to a different house and route faster.
Second, this self employed entrepreneur gets paid after the water is delivered, ideally. But she could NOT be paid immediately. But anyway, can this water woman afford to buy water credit in advance? I don’t THINK women have that much cash reserve to buy water in advance.
Finally, since the water women are not the end user of the water. We will have to rethink our daily free allowance. The daily allowance is meant for a family or individual and NOT the self employed entrepreneur. If the water woman is an entrepreneur she could be buying more than 300 liters of water a day for her customers. We will have to devise some way to, at least, not hurt her livelihood and entrepreneurship.
One way may be to offer rebates in the form of water credits to these water women. For example, a volume discount program for self employed entrepreneurs could allow them to build up a water credit balance. This rebate water credit balance would act as a buffer to allow them to save water credit for actually buying them in advance. It would require discipline to avoid using them frivolously. Or we may create a Christmas Club-like program. Then we could only make it available to them by jumping through some loop to make them think twice before accessing the reserve.
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