Published in July 2024

Sand Dams Worldwide are taking part in the Big Give’s Anchor Match Fund campaign from 1^st August to 31^st October 2024, giving you the opportunity to make a donation towards a life-changing sand dam project and have it doubled for free!

Click here to have your donation doubled today! 

The Big Give Anchor Match Fund campaign offers supporters of participating charities the opportunity to have their donations doubled by generous campaign partners.

This year, as part of our campaign, Sand Dams Worldwide are aiming to raise £60,000 to enable a community living in southern Malawi to build a sand dam and implement environmental protection measures, enabling them to become food and water secure whilst restoring the local environment.

About sand dams

Sand dams are a sustainable rainwater harvesting solution that can last upwards of 60 years and store up to 40 million litres of water (which meets WHO drinking standards), replenishing every rainy season, thus providing people with a year-round lifelong supply of clean water. Unlike other water solutions, sand dams recharge groundwater levels and enable vegetation to regenerate. Combined with environmental protection measures, including tree planting, land degradation is reduced, increasing soil fertility so that farmers can grow more crops to eat, store and sell.

Watch how sand dams work here:

Since 2002, Sand Dams Worldwide has enabled the construction of over 1,300 sand dams in 10 countries, providing nearby clean water to over 1.2 million people.

About Malawi

Malawi is among the world’s poorest countries, with over 50% of the population living in poverty and 20% living in extreme poverty. Malawi’s economy is heavily reliant on rain-fed agriculture, with a largely rural population. Most farmers depend on cultivating small plots of land with little irrigation, making them highly vulnerable to water shortages. With only 5% of surveyed households producing enough food to last more than 9 months of the year, and increasing numbers of rural communities lacking access to clean water, there is a growing need to restore degraded land and rebuild lost livelihoods.

Malawi also suffers greatly from the effects of climate change, with flooding, droughts, and other extreme weather events exacerbating environmental degradation and producing widespread food and water insecurity. Despite the impact of extreme weather events, including a number of severe cyclones in recent years, Sand Dams Worldwide continues to support our partners and people in Malawi to find sustainable solutions to their challenges with food and water security.

About our Anchor Match Fund campaign

Using the money we raise during the Anchor Match Fund, we will support a community living in southern Malawi to construct a sand dam, providing a lifelong supply of clean water whilst helping to transform the surrounding environment by recharging groundwater levels. Additionally, the community will be supported to implement a range of environmental protection measures, such as gabions, bunds, silt traps, and vegetation planting (depending on what is appropriate to the specific site selected).

Further measures will include establishing a tree nursery, helping to reforest the area around the sand dam whilst providing a source of food, fodder for livestock, firewood, and medicine. Lead farmers will also be trained in conservation agriculture and natural resource management to support improved farming and soil conservation, whilst establishing a seed bank (using drought-resistant varieties of seed) will help to boost long-term food security.

Jenifer Bulaziyo (pictured), a member of the Group Village Headman (GVH) Thomas, had this to say about a similar project that took place in her community in southern Malawi.

"Constructing a sand dam is our greatest achievement as a community. We have hope now that our children will be able to enjoy clean water for generations to come."

Jenifer Bulaziyo, member of the GVH Thomas community, southern Malawi.

The secretary of the GVH Thomas sand dam committee, Raphael Thole, also spoke with us regarding their sand dam project.

"We were not used to planting and caring for trees as a community. However, the project assisted us to plant trees which are now growing well. Now it is like a dream. We have been able to raise tree seedlings on our own and now the area promises to be greener in a few years." 

Raphael Thole, secretary of the GVH Thomas sand dam committee, southern Malawi.

The Anchor Match Fund will run from midday on Thursday 1^st August until midday on Thursday 31^st October. To have your donation doubled and find out more about the campaign, click on the link here.