Sand dams provide a year-round source of water close to people’s homes. This changes everything. Time once spent collecting water from distant sources can now be invested in education and farming. People who were once bound by the burden of collecting water, and dependent on unreliable and unpredictable rain, can seize control of their future. Sand dams provide the vital opportunity people need to work their own way out of poverty in dignity.

"We have fought hunger and grown vegetables. We are using the water we have worked for. Because we are in these beginning steps of our group, we are seeing a bright future."

Stephen Mutie Musyoki, Farmer, Malaika self-help group.

While Sand Dams Worldwide's (formerly Excellent Development) work often starts with a sand dam, it’s certainly not where it ends. Once water and time are available, a wealth of opportunities arise. We work through our local partners to advise communities on improved farming methods; supporting people to grow more food in the face of climate change and drought. It’s astonishing to see what can be achieved through these simple, but highly effective, techniques of climate-smart agriculture.

Create lasting change with sand dams - please donate what you can