JS,
I gather, in some cases, the water is there, but difficult to obtain.
In the Western U.S., it wasn't uncommon to see a prairie windmill.
Turns out those were wind driven well pumps, drawing water up to open toughs for the livestock.
"help the people to become self sufficient?" JS

As you know JS, the cliché is:
Give a man a fish,
he eats for a day.

Teach a man to fish,
he eats for a lifetime.

Why so much of Africa remains such a persistent basket case, I don't know.

"when the bigots of this world have been privileged for as long as they have, to them equality feels like discrimination." shiftless2