Restoring degraded land with sand dams

Over the past few years, Zimbabwe has experienced some of its most extreme weather in living memory. Extended droughts in 2024 led the President to declare a state of national emergency and the country has gone on to experience severe flooding in early 2025 that caused widespread damage to infrastructure and farmland.

As the climate swings from one extreme to the other, people living in these rural farming regions are suffering the consequences. Prolonged droughts have caused rivers to dry up, leaving communities without their most vital sources of water, whilst soil has become parched and barren.

When rain finally arrives, drought-degraded land is less capable of absorbing rainwater, increasing the risk of flooding as surface water drains away. Floods in turn are a major cause of soil erosion, stripping away valuable topsoil and vegetation which are key components in healthy and fertile land.

Ultimately, this leads to a vicious cycle of worsening land degradation that leaves dryland communities in a state of perpetual food and water insecurity, as people find themselves unable to fetch enough water for daily use or to grow enough food for their families.

"We used to walk long distances from Nsimbi to Garanyemba, about 15km, just to fetch water. It was tough for us... At times, we couldn't even finish our household chores as we spent the entire day trying to fetch a single bucket of water."

Nompilo Nyathi, Nsimbi Village member, Zimbabwe.

Thankfully, there are ways for communities to restore land degraded by extreme weather and build their resilience to these conditions. It starts with a sand dam, a reinforced concrete wall built across a seasonal riverbed that captures up to 40 million litres of water, replenishing every rainy season to provide a year-round source of clean water. Watch here how sand dams work:

Having a sand dam nearby means that people can save hours each day that they would otherwise spend journeying to distant water points. With the time and energy they save, they can dedicate more to their farming livelihoods without having to worry about their daily water needs. 

Crucially for communities in Zimbabwe, sand dams have a powerfully positive effect on their surrounding environment by raising the water table and recharging groundwater levels in the areas they are built. By doing so, they enable more water to infiltrate the surrounding soil, restoring land that has been degraded by years of droughts and flooding.

This is only the beginning for dryland communities, as a further key element of sand dam projects in Zimbabwe is the implementation of a range of environmental protection measures. Constructing stone bunds and gabions, for example, offers additional protections for vulnerable land against soil erosion and water runoff.

“Access to water isn't just about survival; it opens doors to development... We can now establish gardens, water our livestock, and even tackle land restoration through conservation efforts like stone bunds and woodlots. The progress is already evident.” 

Kholisani Nkomo, Nsimbi Village Chairperson, Zimbabwe.

Supporting communities to establish woodlots helps them to plant and grow more trees around their sand dam, further contributing to improved soil conservation whilst providing local people with a valuable source of fruit, fuel and timber.

Over time the impact of a sand dam project becomes increasingly apparent, not least due to the “re-greening” effect that sees vegetation growth expand around the dam site. The result is a restored environment, covered with greenery and surrounded by thriving farmland. 

Together with our Zimbabwean partner, The Dabane Trust, our goal is to continue to bring the benefits of sand dams to more communities in southern Zimbabwe and to work towards restoring degraded lands across the region. However, we cannot achieve this without the support of valued donors like you.

We are currently working on a project with the Nsimbi community in southern Zimbabwe, who have just completed construction of a sand dam in their village. You can read here about how this sand dam is already making a difference to local lives and land.

The next step for the Nsimbi community is to construct a water point, enabling them to more easily extract clean water from their sand dam. There are two other communities we will be working with this year who will also require a water point for their sand dams, once they are built.

The total cost of installing water points for these three communities is £8,000, therefore any amount you could donate towards this target will bring these communities one step closer to their goal of easily accessible clean water.

Here are a few specific examples of how a donation could contribute towards this target:

£20 could contribute towards all the cup seals, a crucial water point component, needed to construct water points for three communities

£50 could contribute towards PVC pipes for three communities’ water points, through which water can flow from their sand dams to their water pump taps

£100 could contribute towards non-return valves for three communities’ water points, helping to control the flow of water from their sand dams

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this appeal and for your continued engagement with our work. We are hugely grateful for the support of valued donors like yourself and greatly appreciate you helping us towards our goal of restoring degraded lands with sand dams.