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Nchalo Water Project – Household Survey 2021

This dataset was collected in 2021 using the mWater mobile data collection platform, as part of the Nchalo Water Project. The survey captures household-level and community-level information related to water access, livelihoods, governance, infrastructure, and service delivery in rural communities around Nchalo, Malawi.

The data reflects conditions at the time of collection and is intended to support targeted decision-making around water supply projects and integrated rural development efforts.

  1. Use cases of the data
    Local Government Authorities (District Water Offices, Planning Departments) To inform localized infrastructure development and service delivery planning.

  2. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) To support rural WASH, livelihood improvement, and community empowerment programs.

  3. Donor Agencies and Development Partners For targeting investments and evaluating the impact of funded projects.

  4. Researchers and Academics For studying rural development, community resilience, water governance, and socio-economic trends.

  5. Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) To advocate for resources, plan community-led initiatives, and participate in decision-making.

  6. Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Specialists To use as baseline data for future assessments or project comparisons.

Installation

You can install the development version of nchalohhwatersurvey from GitHub with:

# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("openwashdata/nchalohhwatersurvey")
## Run the following code in console if you don't have the packages
## install.packages(c("dplyr", "knitr", "readr", "stringr", "gt", "kableExtra"))
library(dplyr)
library(knitr)
library(readr)
library(stringr)
library(gt)
library(kableExtra)

Alternatively, you can download the individual datasets as a CSV or XLSX file from the table below.

  1. Click Download CSV. A window opens that displays the CSV in your browser.
  2. Right-click anywhere inside the window and select “Save Page As…”.
  3. Save the file in a folder of your choice.
dataset CSV XLSX
nchalohhwatersurvey Download CSV Download XLSX

Data

The package provides access to community-level household survey conducted as part of the Nchalo Water Project. Its purpose is to assess livelihoods, water usage, community governance, infrastructure access, and opportunities for value addition in the context of a rural water supply or WASH-related development intervention.

nchalohhwatersurvey

The dataset nchalohhwatersurvey contains 74 observations and 39 variables

nchalohhwatersurvey |> 
  head(3) |> 
  gt::gt() |>
  gt::as_raw_html()
submitted_on community_name latitude longitude community_population main_livelihood_source main_livelihood_source_comments income_in_2020_mwk income_comments income_spending_priority main_drinking_water_source main_drinking_water_source_other uses_borehole_for_other_purposes other_borehole_use_comments reasons_not_pursuing_multiple_uses reasons_not_pursuing_multiple_uses_other value_addition_opportunity value_addition_opportunity_details value_addition_opportunity_other land_allocation_responsible_person leadership_allocation_decider leadership_allocation_other gender_guidelines_for_leadership gender_guidelines_comments pay_for_water water_payment_amount water_payment_frequency water_payment_frequency_other reason_for_not_paying reason_for_not_paying_other nearest_school_type govt_school_accessibility nearest_health_facility_type health_facility_accessibility health_facility_accessibility_other community_solved_social_problem community_solved_social_problem_comments flow_rate_test_possible_today has_temp_ec_tds_meter
4/8/2021 Fote 1 -16.18446 34.77077 206 Ganyu Piece works at Illovo between 0 - 100,000 per year It depends on a particular piece work because sometimes we get k2000 or k1000 Bought maize/food Borehole NA Nothing NA Other The water is salty so plants wilt Yes small scale irrigation, Other Maize and vegetables Community leaders/Chiefs The community decides NA Yes 50-50 campaign Yes 200 Other When BH breaks down NA NA Government primary School Yes Private health clinics No NA Yes CBO was largely built by us. No No
4/7/2021 Lobert -16.24128 34.92167 800 Farming NA More than 600,001 per year NA Pucrhase land From the Illovo irrigation canals NA NA NA NA NA Yes small scale irrigation NA Community leaders/Chiefs The ADC decides NA Yes NA No NA NA NA Other Illovo canal waters is free Government primary School Yes Private health clinics No NA Yes NA No No
4/7/2021 Lobert -16.24128 34.92167 800 Farming NA between 0 - 100,000 per year NA Bought maize/food From the Illovo irrigation canals NA NA NA NA NA Yes small scale irrigation NA Community leaders/Chiefs The chief decides NA NA NA Yes 300 Monthly NA NA NA Government primary School Yes Private health clinics No NA No NA No No

For an overview of the variable names, see the following table.

variable_name variable_type description
submitted_on character Date and time the survey was submitted
community_name character Name of the community surveyed
latitude numeric Latitude coordinate of the survey location
longitude numeric Longitude coordinate of the survey location
community_population numeric Estimated total number of people in the community
main_livelihood_source character Primary source of livelihood for the household
main_livelihood_source_comments character Additional comments on the households main livelihood
income_in_2020_mwk character Estimated household income in 2020 from the main livelihood source (in MWK)
income_comments character Additional comments about the reported income
income_spending_priority character Main priorities for spending the household income
main_drinking_water_source character Primary source of drinking water for the community
main_drinking_water_source_other character Specification if Other water source was selected
uses_borehole_for_other_purposes character Whether the borehole is used for purposes other than drinking
other_borehole_use_comments character Comments on other uses of borehole water
reasons_not_pursuing_multiple_uses character Reasons for not using borehole water for multiple purposes
reasons_not_pursuing_multiple_uses_other character Specification if an Other reason was selected
value_addition_opportunity character Whether value addition opportunities exist for a new water project
value_addition_opportunity_details character Details about the identified value addition opportunities
value_addition_opportunity_other character Specification if an Other opportunity was mentioned
land_allocation_responsible_person character Person or group responsible for land allocation for new projects
leadership_allocation_decider character Entity that decides leadership roles in community projects
leadership_allocation_other character Specification if an Other decision maker was indicated
gender_guidelines_for_leadership character Existence of gender guidelines in community leadership
gender_guidelines_comments character Comments on the gender guidelines
pay_for_water character Whether the community pays for water usage
water_payment_amount numeric Amount paid for water usage (in MWK)
water_payment_frequency character Frequency of water payment
water_payment_frequency_other character Specification if an Other frequency was selected
reason_for_not_paying character Main reason for not paying for water
reason_for_not_paying_other character Specification if an Other reason was given
nearest_school_type character Type of school closest to the community
govt_school_accessibility character Whether government schools are accessible to all
nearest_health_facility_type character Type of health facility closest to the community
health_facility_accessibility character Whether the health facility is affordable and accessible to all
health_facility_accessibility_other character Specification if an Other accessibility concern was mentioned
community_solved_social_problem character Whether the community has independently addressed social problems
community_solved_social_problem_comments character Comments on how social problems were addressed by the community
flow_rate_test_possible_today character Whether it was possible to conduct a flow rate test during the visit
has_temp_ec_tds_meter character Whether the team had a temperature and EC or TDS meter available

Data Visualization Examples 

library(nchalohhwatersurvey)
# required Libraries
library(tidyverse)
library(maps)
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)

# Vizualisation 1: Main sources of drinking water
# Count the frequency of each main drinking water source in the dataset
water_source_counts <- nchalohhwatersurvey %>%
  # Remove rows where main_drinking_water_source is missing
  filter(!is.na(main_drinking_water_source)) %>%
  # Count occurrences of each unique main drinking water source
  count(main_drinking_water_source) %>%
  # Arrange counts in descending order for better visualization
  arrange(desc(n))

# Create a bar chart of the water source counts
ggplot(water_source_counts, aes(x = reorder(main_drinking_water_source, -n), y = n)) +
  # Use geom_bar with identity stat to plot counts
  geom_bar(stat = "identity", fill = "#2c7fb8") +
  # Add chart title and axis labels
  labs(
    title = "Main Sources of Drinking Water",
    x = "Drinking Water Source",
    y = "Number of Communities"
  ) +
  # Use a minimal theme for a clean look
  theme_minimal() +
  # Rotate x-axis labels 45 degrees for readability
  theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 45, hjust = 1))


# Vizualisation 2: Map with points colored by main drinking water source
# Load Malawi map data from maps package
malawi_map <- map_data("world", region = "Malawi")

# Filter your data for plotting (remove missing coords or water sources)
plot_data <- nchalohhwatersurvey %>%
  filter(!is.na(latitude), !is.na(longitude), !is.na(main_drinking_water_source))

# Plot Malawi map with points colored by water source
ggplot() +
  geom_polygon(data = malawi_map, aes(x = long, y = lat, group = group),
               fill = "gray95", color = "black") +
  geom_point(data = plot_data, 
             aes(x = longitude, y = latitude, color = main_drinking_water_source),
             alpha = 0.7, size = 3) +
  scale_color_brewer(palette = "Set2") +
  coord_fixed(1.3) +  # fix aspect ratio
  labs(
    title = "Main Drinking Water Sources in Malawi Communities",
    x = "Longitude",
    y = "Latitude",
    color = "Water Source"
  ) +
  theme_minimal()

License

Data are available as CC-BY.

Citation

Please cite this package using:

citation("nchalohhwatersurvey")
#> To cite package 'nchalohhwatersurvey' in publications use:
#> 
#>   Mhango E (2025). _nchalohhwatersurvey: What the Package Does (One
#>   Line, Title Case)_. R package version 0.0.0.9000,
#>   <https://github.com/openwashdata/nchalohhwatersurvey>.
#> 
#> A BibTeX entry for LaTeX users is
#> 
#>   @Manual{,
#>     title = {nchalohhwatersurvey: What the Package Does (One Line, Title Case)},
#>     author = {Emmanuel Mhango},
#>     year = {2025},
#>     note = {R package version 0.0.0.9000},
#>     url = {https://github.com/openwashdata/nchalohhwatersurvey},
#>   }