Zhai, C., Bretthauer, K., Mejia, J., & Pedraza-Martinez, A. (2023). Improving drinking water access and equity in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. Production and Operations Management, 32 (9) 2921-2939
Finalist in the M&SOM Student Paper Competition (2022).
Finalist in POMS College of Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management Best Paper Competition (2021).
This paper focuses on the optimal locations for building new water projects, which is a primary operational response for many NGOs in the field of rural water supply. We first develop a decentralized water project location optimization model based on current practice of a decentralized decision-making and project management system and an equal per-beneficiary budget. We further propose three new models to improve both water access and equity: a minimax model, an equitable budget model, and a centralized model that leverages the existing community involvement. Through numerical studies, we find that when two neighboring communities can collaborate, the centralized model dominates. However, when neighboring communities cannot collaborate, the numerical results suggest that the NGO should choose different models based on groundwater distribution (evenly vs. unevenly) and the goal of the NGO. Lastly, motivated by the current civil war in Ethiopia, we develop a stochastic model to study how to improve drinking water access while mitigating the negative impact of water project supply shocks such as war. Our work provides a generalizable and scalable methodology and managerial insights to NGOs building new water projects by combining large geo-coded data sets and field data.
Keep Water Flowing: The Hidden Crisis of Rural Water Management
Major revision at Manufacturing and Service Operations Management.
Authors: Chengcheng Zhai, Rodney Parker, Kurt Bretthauer, Jorge Mejia, Alfonso J. Pedraza-Martinez.
In rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), people rely on communal handpumps for clean drinking water. But these handpumps break down frequently. Thus, it is crucial to proactively maintain and reactively repair these handpumps to ensure continuing access to water. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) face the challenge of implementing an effective maintenance program, which includes scheduling mechanic visits to service water points to minimize water point downtime and associated logistics cost, collecting handpump functionality information, and choosing their logistical approach of being proactive or reactive. We first conducted field research in Ethiopia and Malawi to understand the context and problem of water maintenance. We then collected 56,344 water point functionality observations from NGOs implementing water point maintenance programs in the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, and Malawi. Lastly, we develop a Markov decision process that determines the optimal schedule for NGO mechanics to visit water points. We apply the optimization model to data from the three countries to identify the gap between practice and optimality, while exercising two heuristic policies (cyclic and responsive) observed in practice. The optimization model reduces water point downtime by as little as 19.3% in Ethiopia and as much as 49.8% in Malawi, at a minor increase in logistics cost, if any. The responsive (cyclic) heuristic policy is more effective when repair demand is low (high). The availability of functionality information is more valuable in reducing downtime and logistics cost when the NGO is less financially constrained. Our results challenge the prevailing belief among NGOs that preventive maintenance is excessively costly. We recommend NGOs incorporate preventive maintenance in their programs. We also recommend resource constrained NGOs invest in increasing water point reliability and reducing major repair costs before expanding functionality information collection. Our findings provide valuable insights for NGOs seeking to enhance existing or implement new maintenance programs.
The Impact of Female Leadership on Water Point Functionality in Development Operations Management
Under review at Manufacturing and Service Operations Management.
Authors: Chengcheng Zhai, Rodney Parker, Kurt Bretthauer, Jorge Mejia, Alfonso J. Pedraza-Martinez.
In many areas of sub-Saharan Africa, informal village-led water user committees (WUCs) are responsible for maintaining village water points. Leadership composition is known to influence organizational performance in developed economies, but little is understood about how gender composition within these informal governance structures affects water point functionality in developing economies. To examine this important issue, we collected field data on 416 rural water points in Malawi, including detailed information on WUC composition and governance structure. We then matched the field data with longitudinal data on water point functionality from 2016 to 2024. To estimate the impact of gender composition - both in terms of the WUC chair and broader committee - on water point functionality, we use fractional logit models, propensity score matching, exact matching, and two-stage residual inclusion methods. We find that water points with female WUC chairs perform significantly better, experiencing more fully working days and fewer minor breakdown days than those with male chairs. In contrast, greater gender diversity within the boarder WUC is associated with lower functionality, particularly when the chair is male. These findings are robust across different model specifications and subsamples, addressing potential endogeneity concerns. To better understand the mechanisms behind our empirical findings, in June 2025, we returned to Malawi to conduct additional interviews with WUC members. Our results suggest that simply increasing female representation on informal village-led WUCs in developing economies is not sufficient: placing women in leadership roles, particularly as chair, is key to improving water point functionality. NGOs and local governments should prioritize gender-inclusive leadership development and support women in decision-making positions. Additionally, mixed-gender committees, especially those with male chairs, may benefit from targeted training to improve coordination and sustain reliable water access.
Increasing Donations for Funding Rural Water Supply Through Operational Transparency
Authors: Chengcheng Zhai, Kurt Bretthauer, Jorge Mejia, Alfonso J. Pedraza-Martinez.
Setting up field experiment
Charities often rely on emotional storytelling—powerful images and videos that evoke empathy—to inspire giving. While this approach connects with donors on an emotional level, our research examines whether a more transparent, data-driven approach can also motivate generosity. Specifically, we ask: Can showing donors how well charity-funded projects actually perform engage their logical reasoning and strengthen trust? To explore this question, we used real water-point functionality data from rural Africa and conducted two controlled laboratory experiments on the Prolific Academic platform. Participants viewed simulated charity webpages that varied in how much and what type of operational transparency they displayed. We measured willingness to donate, as well as perceptions of the charity’s effort, trustworthiness, and impact.
In Experiment 1, donors who saw evidence of operational success—a water point reliably functioning—were significantly more willing to give than those who saw no transparency. These effects were driven by enhanced perceptions of the charity’s effort and trustworthiness. In contrast, showing operational failures alone neither increased nor reduced giving. Experiment 2 introduced more dynamic scenarios, reflecting the real-world fluctuations of field operations: continued success, failure detection, and service recovery (repair after failure). Donors responded most positively to service recovery, suggesting that demonstrating responsiveness and problem-solving can be more persuasive than flawless performance.
Taken together, the two experiments suggest that donors value not only consistent success but also evidence of responsiveness and recovery. Flawless performance is not required; rather, demonstrating the ability to address and resolve operational failures can enhance donor trust and perceptions of organizational effort, thereby increasing willingness to give.