In the field of community development, there are many examples of failed projects throughout the world. Here’s one:
A project director visited a community to see what he thought could improve the community. He discovered that the women in the community walk a kilometer downstream of the community’s river to wash clothes. He thought that a community borehole would save the women the time and effort it took to walk down river. He had a borehole built along with some large sinks the women could use to wash their clothes. When he came back two years later, he found that the women were still talking to the river to do their laundry. It turns out that they regarded their laundry time as private women’s time to gossip and pass on the latest news.