1. Gender Impacts of KickStart
treadle pumps in East Africa
John Ngige and Beatrice Salasya
Presented at the GAAP year 3 workshop Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, January 2013

2. Introduction to the project
 KickStart is a social enterprise that designs and
markets low cost manual irrigation pumps in
Africa, popularly known as Money Maker Pumps
(MMP), aimed at lifting poor people out of
poverty.
 Given that women are generally poorer than
men, it was expected that women would acquire
MMPs. However, recent sale records show that
the share of women pump buyers is only 20% in
Kenya and 5% in Tanzania.

3. Introduction (2)
 For both efficiency and equity, it is
important to understand the factors
driving low take up by women, and also
to understand gender differences in
impact of the MMP on household
wellbeing including income, health and
education of children.

4. Type of asset being studied
 “Physical Asset”: MMPs are low cost
manually operated irrigation pumps that
cost approximately $100 (depending on
model).
 The pumps are designed, manufactured and
marketed through the private sector
(dealers and distributors).
 KickStart currently operates in three
countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Mali) and
distributes to an additional 5 African
countries.

5. Research Questions
1. What constraints challenge acquisition
and operation of MMP pumps and how
does this vary between men and women?
2. What are the patterns of intrahousehold
control of treadle pumps and how has
this impacted on the livelihoods and
income of men and women?
3. How does owning MMP impact on the
asset gap (more generally) between men
and women?

6. Methods: Overview
 The larger evaluation uses both
quantitative and qualitative approaches –
however the GAAP study is limited to
qualitative methodologies.
 The study was conducted in Tanzania
and Kenya in areas where sales of
KickStart pumps were high, among areas
with different climatic conditions and
gender norms.

7. Methods: Qualitative Approach
 Farmers who attended the FGDs were selected
from those who had bought pumps some years
earlier
 Tanzania (Mwanza, Tabora and Iringa regions)
and Kenya (Central and Western provinces).
 Gender disaggregated Focus Group Discussions
(FGDs: men-only, women-only, and mixed) and
Key Informant Interviews (KIIs).
 Separate checklists were used to guide the
discussions and to probe various issues related to
research questions.

8. Control of KickStart pumps by gender: Preview
from the quantitative baseline
Kenya Tanzania
Female Joint Male Female Joint Male
Hip Pump 0.18 0.03 0.80 0.18 0.09 0.79
SMMP 0.22 0.02 0.76 0.13 0.07 0.81

9. Qualitative study results
Data were analyzed along five themes:
1. Understanding the pump and its use.
2. Main crops irrigated and decision making
around main crops.
3. Understanding benefits of the pump.
4. Understanding challenges of accessing,
owning and using the pumps.
5. Understanding asset ownership.

10. Theme 1: The pump and its use
 In Kenya both men and women had access
to information about the pump but in
Tanzania women knew less about the pump
than men.
 The decision to buy the pump was discussed
by both men and women, but in case of
disagreement the men made the final
decision.
 Women preferred the Hip pump to the
MMP if they operated themselves due to
cultural reasons.

11. Theme 2: Main crops irrigated and
decision making
 Main reasons for preferring certain crops
were: Dual use at home and for market,
ready market, minimal work required
and fewer external inputs.
 Men preferred crops that fetch income
and are harvested at one time.
 Women preferred crops that are both
sold and are also used at home e.g. leafy
vegetables.

12. Main crops irrigated using MMP
Country Preferred by Men Preferred by Women
Tanzania Tomatoes, cabbage, Tomatoes, cabbage,
capsicums, amaranth, kales, green
cucumber, green maize
maize
Kenya Cabbages, tomatoes, Kales, cabbages,
kales, french beans, tomatoes, local
onions vegetables, spinach,
onions

13. Theme 3: Benefits of the pump
 Increased income that enabled investments
including: Education of children, purchase a
variety of assets such as land, family houses, rental
houses, cattle, TVs, radios, motorbikes, water
tanks, and other machines for business, and
clothing.
• Food security, better nutrition and health.
 Pumps were used to draw water for domestic use
and watering livestock by men and women,
relieving women from the drudgery of fetching
water.

14. Benefits of the pump (cont.)
 Women earned money from their plots and did
not have to keep asking their husbands for
money hence less conflicts in the house.
 The necessity of having two people operate the
pump made husbands and wives spend more
time together – better bonding.
 Improved social status for both men and
women.

15. Theme 4: Challenges of accessing
and using the pumps
 For most individuals, pumps were accessible
within short distances though a few people
complained of long distances to the shops.
 Time taken from hearing about the pump and
purchasing ranged from a one day to one year
(Kenya) and five years (Tanzania).
 The reason for the delay was mainly lack of
cash – single women and widows were more
constrained.
 Other reasons were lack of full information
about the pump and lack of water.

16. Challenges (cont.)
 The main challenge using the pump were
wearing out of rubbers and lack of spare
parts.
 Single women and widows were challenged
using the pump because of the necessity of
two people to operate the pump.
 Those who had the old model of the pumps
indicated that they were difficult to operate

17. Theme 5: Asset Ownership by gender,
Tanzania
 Assets such as land, cattle, motorcycle and
machines for business were owned by men.
 Assets such as houses, furniture, radio, were
jointly with their husbands, but women could
not make a decision to dispose off or lend out.
 Women owned household utensils.
 Most privately owned pumps were owned and
controlled by men but used by both gender
 When women owned the pumps, they were still
controlled by men

18. Theme 5: Asset ownership by gender, Kenya
 The general statement was that men in male
headed households owned all assets including the
wife and children in both central and western
Kenya.
 However, probing showed that women were
owners of the family house, local poultry and
household assets, and men owned high value
assets such as land, cattle, commercial plots and
rental houses.
 Decisions to dispose the assets were made jointly
by husband and wife.

19. Men PID - Kenya

20. Women PID - Tanzania

21. Preliminary Conclusions - Tanzania
 The MMP is transforming subsistence farming into
more commercial farming.
 Most decisions on control and use of income accruing
from MMP were made jointly but in case of
disagreement men made the final decision.
 Men sold their produce at the market but women sold
mainly at farm gate - need to link women farmers to
the markets.
 Current MMPs were more friendly to men than to
women – need to design women friendly MMPs.

22. Preliminary conclusions - Kenya
 Both men and women are benefitting from the MMP.
 There was an increase in the participation of both men
and women in decision making - with regard to the use
of the pump and the accruing income.
 Clear identification of gender differentiated asset
ownership could not be established because of the
cultural perception that the males were the overall
owners of all household assets
 Lack of cash was the main constraint to accessing the
pumps especially for women.

23. Next Steps
 Complete analysis and reporting of the
quantitative data.
 Put in place some strategies that make it
easier for women to buy and use the MMPs.
 Some promising pilot initiatives already
underway: Results from the layaway
program in Kenya is leading to increased
purchases by women (30%, up from 20%).

24. GAAP Partner Organizations