science

Pump Aid

Pump Aid is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pump Aid rather than just read about it. In short: Pump Aid is an international non-profit organisation that was set up in 1998. It is headquartered in London and delivers all its services in Africa, mostly in Malawi.

Key takeaways

Pump Aid belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pump Aid to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pump Aid from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pump Aid is an international non-profit organisation that was set up in 1998. It is headquartered in London and delivers all its services in Africa, mostly in Malawi. Pump Aid is a WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) NGO and is part of a worldwide programme committed to the delivery of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the total eradication of water poverty by 2030. Pump Aid had offices in Malawi and London, and as of 2018 employed approximately 23 people, 70% of whom were based in Africa. Most of whom are national staff in Malawi trained in well-digging and water-pump installation.

History Pump Aid was founded in 1998 by three teachers working in a rural primary school in Zimbabwe. Two of their pupils fell ill from contaminated water and died. These teachers realised the need for health superseded the need for education and so set up Pump Aid to provide wells in rural communities. The Zimbabwe government estimates that 10% of that country's rural population now accesses water through pumps supplied by Pump Aid. In 2006, Pump Aid began working in Malawi where the bulk of its projects are now based. Malawi is the sixth poorest country in the world (by GDP per capita) and is ranked 170 (out of 188) on the UN Human Development Index. 85% of Malawi's population is engaged in and relies on rain-fed small-scale farming and only 11% of small-scale farmers have access to any form of irrigation. Celebrity supporters of the charity have included Corinne Bailey Rae, Kym Marsh, and Ben Nealon.

Elephant Pump Pump Aid's improved access to rural WASH programme is based around its take on a traditional rope and washer pump, known as the Elephant Pump. The Elephant Pump, based on a c. 2,000 year-old Chinese design, is a rope pump consisting of a "rope, a plastic pipe, some rubber washers and a winding wheel". It was designed both to be low cost, with a c. $500 price, and to be easily serviced and maintained by the local community. A 2015 study of 338 pumps in Malawi indicated a significant proportion conformed to water quality standards, and that local community members indicated that repairs are mostly considered "easy". The name "Elephant Pump" refers to the pump's strength, shape, and reliability. As of 2009 the Elephant Pump has provided clean water to c. 1.2 million people living in rural areas of Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Awards and recognition Winner of the 2005 and 2008 St Andrews Prize for the Environment Winner, International aid and development, UK Charity Awards 2017

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pump Aid

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pump Aid claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pump Aid before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pump Aid ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pump Aid

In research: Pump Aid appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pump Aid in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pump Aid is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1998 establishments in England, Development charities based in the United Kingdom, Foreign charities operating in Malawi, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pump Aid outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pump Aid in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pump Aid means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pump Aid out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pump Aid in simple terms?

Pump Aid is an international non-profit organisation that was set up in 1998. It is headquartered in London and delivers all its services in Africa, mostly in Malawi.

Why does Pump Aid matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pump Aid?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pump Aid.