Sand dams: building a future without hunger

Food insecurity and hunger are among the greatest challenges facing the world’s poorest people today. A recent UN report estimates that around 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, equivalent to one in eleven people globally and one in five across Africa. These are deeply worrying statistics, not least for people living in drylands across the world.

Dryland regions are home to the majority of the world’s poor but frequently suffer from water shortages, making it very tough for local people to grow their own food or support livestock. This is a major problem for people living in the drylands of eastern and southern Africa, many of whom rely on rain-fed subsistence agriculture to earn a living and feed their families.

These communities face a daily struggle to find water, often spending hours travelling to distant water sources. This is made even more difficult by an increasingly unpredictable climate, that has led to prolonged droughts in recent years. As water supplies dwindle and soil becomes parched and barren, their crops fail and their livestock perish, leaving people hungry and with catastrophic loss of livelihood.

Under these conditions, a future without hunger can seem inconceivable for people living in drylands. However, we know that with the right tools, knowledge and support, this is something that can be achieved for millions of people.

It begins with a sand dam: a reinforced concrete wall built across a seasonal sandy riverbed that can capture up to 40 million litres of water, replenishing each rainy season. This provides a year-round source of clean water closer to people’s homes for drinking, washing and farming. Watch here how sand dams work:

With a nearby source of water that they can rely on, people no longer have to face lengthy and tiring journeys to fetch water from distant riverbeds. They find themselves with more time and energy to dedicate to their farms, meaning they can grow more crops to feed their families and achieve greater surpluses to sell at market.

“The sand dam has brought great change here. The community now has an endless water supply, we no longer stress about water. My farm has become more productive and the local environment has really regenerated.”

Carol Muteti, Wambiti Village self-help group member, southeast Kenya.

Alongside these benefits, sand dams have a powerful effect on surrounding land by recharging groundwater levels and raising the water table. This allows more water to infiltrate the soil around the dam, restoring land degraded by droughts and regreening the environment by improving soil fertility, encouraging the growth of vegetation.

Healthier land and improved water security lay the foundations for local farmers to thrive, where once they fought so hard just to survive. Yet these are but the first steps along the road to building a future without hunger.

“Food security is the greatest achievement in our community; I am one of many who feel they are achieving their dreams. Being an independent farmer warms my heart... I feel very happy and absolutely love the project.”

Ed Muteti, Wambiti Village self-help group member, southeast Kenya.

By providing communities with training in climate-smart agricultural techniques and helping them to establish long-term food security projects, such as tree nurseries and seed banks, we support people in drylands to acquire the skills to achieve their own food security. This means that by the time we and our in-country partners finish supporting a community, they are in a position to sustain their own livelihoods.

What’s more, they can work together with similar communities to share the knowledge they have gained and the food security strategies they have used. When we imagine a future without hunger, we picture this on a much larger scale; a network of communities supporting one another to become self-sufficient and food secure.

At Sand Dams Worldwide, we fully believe that this kind of future can become a reality, but not without the support of valued donors like you. Each donation we receive helps more communities to implement sand dam projects, equipping them with the means to achieve their own food security and contributing towards a future without hunger.

An example of how sand dam projects are helping to build a future without hunger can be read here in the story from the Wambiti Village community in southeast Kenya. We hope you enjoy reading this piece and learning about the difference your support could make.

Here are a few examples of what your donation could help us to implement:

£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

£85 could provide 500 seedlings and a spray pump, to protect a tree nursery from decimation by insects

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this appeal and for your continued interest in our work. Any amount you could donate would be hugely appreciated and will be a valued contribution towards our journey to build a future without hunger in drylands.