Help to restore drylands with sand dams and climate-smart farming (Ma Earth match-funding campaign)

Published in June 2026

Sand Dams Worldwide are excited to share that we've launched a new fundraising campaign to raise money for a sand dam and climate-smart agriculture project in southeast Kenya.

The campaign is running from July 1st-21st on Ma Earth, a platform designed to directly support nature-based solutions and projects like ours. 

To make a donation to our sand dam project in Kenya when the campaign goes live on July 1st, please click here. 

About the sand dam project

We are seeking support to enable a new sand dam project in Makueni County, Kenya, that will help more people (like Penninah, pictured) living in the area to access clean water that is closer to home, to achieve food security, and to transform their own lives and land for generations to come.

“Before the sand dam, I would wake up at 6am to walk 1.5km to the nearest river, queue for water, and then carry it back on my back. Now we have plenty of water nearby. Even during the driest months, we have coped well without any struggle in getting water. My health is good because I drink clean water. And I am very proud of my farm which is doing well. I have planted pumpkin, onions, melon, kale and bananas, and I have made money from selling my produce which I use to buy items for my family.”

Penninah Mueni, Upper Syuuni Development self-help group member, southeast Kenya.

Since 2010, Sand Dams Worldwide has worked with local partner, the Africa Sand Dam Foundation, to support rural communities in Ukambani, southeast Kenya (comprising of Makueni, Machakos and Kitui counties) to harvest rainwater with sand dams, and grow food, restore degraded land and regreen environments with climate-smart agriculture and land conservation measures.

Ukambani is one of Kenya’s most drought-prone regions, prone to severe water shortages. Around 55% of households lack access to safe water (compared with 32% nationally), and 44% of the population live below the poverty line (compared with 38% nationally). During dry seasons, women and children can walk up to 6 hours each day to collect water (even longer during prolonged drought periods) – time that children could spend learning at school, or women could spend earning a living – for water which is often unsafe to drink.

The World Health Organisation recommends 50 litres of water per day per person for drinking, washing, cooking and maintaining proper hygiene, yet we know that many households living in Ukambani are having to make do with much less. When people lack water, one of the first strategies they employ is to reduce the water used for washing and bathing, including hand washing. The lack of water to be able to carry out this basic hygiene practice regularly puts these already vulnerable communities at an even greater risk.

The impacts of climate change are only compounding the problem of water scarcity, with increasingly erratic rainfall putting more and more pressure on already finite natural water sources. The current climate crisis poses an additional threat to Ukambani’s communities, most of whom are subsistence farmers who rely on rain-fed agriculture. Already, water shortages are making it difficult for these communities to produce enough food, yet as the region experiences its driest conditions and hottest temperatures since satellite record-keeping began, more and more families are facing extreme hunger, and their potential to generate household income is reducing.

To see how a sand dam project has helped three generations of women from a village in Makueni County to transform their own lives, watch our short ‘Water Women of Wambiti’ film: 

About the Ma Earth campaign

This isn’t like other crowdfunding you’ve seen. On Ma Earth, your support doesn't just help one project; it unlocks matching funds that benefit all projects in this July's funding round. The more people who donate, the more funding flows to regenerative, restoration work worldwide. Click here to find out more about Ma Earth and how their campaigns work.

How you can help

How your donation could make a difference

  • £25 could provide a dryland farmer with drought-tolerant seeds, to grow a reliable source of fresh food for their children
  • £50 could provide a community with a roll of barbed wire, to reinforce and strengthen their sand dam during construction
  • £100 could provide a community with a wheelbarrow and 10 bags of cement, to help them construct their sand dam

Every contribution matters, and it means so much to all of us at Sand Dams Worldwide and the communities we work with to have your support. Thank you.

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