Excellent accredited as a UN Civil Society Organisation

In September 2013, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) accredited Excellent Development as a Civil Society Organisation (CSO). Excellent was accredited for its work combating desertification - one of the world's most critical environmental challenges. UNCCD

As a UNCCD CSO, Excellent Development will play a key role at major UN conferences, providing a valuable link between dryland smallholder farmers and the convention. The UNCCD says: “They (CSOs) are indispensable partners for UN efforts at the country level, and they are consulted on UN policy and programme matters.”

"I like very much, not only the approach of sand dams, but I like the passion behind, I like the people behind. I really wish that we could do more in taking that technology, that approach, that understanding, among others."

Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary, UNCCD (2007-2013).

As a CSO, Excellent is promoting the value of sand dams as one of the range of solutions that can significantly contribute to sustainable land management in drylands. Excellent Development's former Executive Director Simon Maddrell said:

"There is no silver bullet solution (to desertification). Even technologies that work in one situation cannot be copied and pasted from one place to another. They must be applied to a specific context. The reason Excellent Development promote sand dams is because they are massively under-utilised and have the potential to transform millions of people's lives in drylands."

How sand dams can reverse desertification

Please donate what you can to help transform more lives with sand dams and clean water

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£15

could provide a farmer with drought-resistant seeds, so they can feed and support their family.

£30

could supply a community with a rake, gardening fork, shovel and watering cans, to plant trees for fruit, fuel and fodder

£60

could provide a roll of barbed wire to reinforce a sand dam, anchoring it to the bedrock.

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Latest

Jersey Overseas Aid – Kenya 2019 Expedition

Excellent Development supports communities in drylands around the world to transform their own lives with sand dams and climate-smart agriculture; empowering them to achieve lifelong access to water and food. Please donate what you can today to help the Kyekuyu self-help group in southeast Kenya and their community (whose sand dam is being built with the support of Jersey Overseas Aid), as well as other dryland farmers to transform their own lives through climate-smart agriculture.
"Life in school has become more enjoyable"

When water supplies are low, drastic measures are often turned to in efforts to collect it. The construction of a water tank in Utini Girls Secondary School in southeast Kenya has helped to lift this burden, according to testimony from members of the school community.
Enabling greater success

Having access to water on-site provides schools with the opportunity to grow and to try new things. In this story we see what new endeavours a water tank has enabled at Ngomeni Primary School, Kenya.
Thank you for tuning in to our BBC Radio 4 Appeal!

Thank you to all to tuned in to our BBC Radio 4 to hear our sand dam expedition volunteer, Sarah Parker, speak about the impact of sand dams and how they're helping farmers like Josephine to transform their lives.

Thank you for tuning in to our BBC Radio 4 Appeal!

Thank you to all to tuned in to our BBC Radio 4 to hear our sand dam expedition volunteer, Sarah Parker, speak about the impact of sand dams and how they're helping farmers like Josephine to transform their lives.
Sand dams offer a possible solution to climate change and drought in Somaliland

As the repercussions of climate change, drought and desertification get more dramatic than ever, we share what role sand dams can play.
Jobs at Excellent: Individual Giving Officer

We are recruiting!
Combating the effects of climate change with sand dams

As temperatures continue to rise and the effects of climate change become ever more dramatic, what part can sand dams play in protecting the world's poorest people? Excellent's Programmes Officer, Callum Sheehan, shares his thoughts.
Sand dams keeping the water flowing in Lekurruki

11 sand dams have been built since we starting working in northern Kenya in 2015. The impact has been dramatic says Callum Sheehan, Excellent's Programmes Officer.
A green "oasis" four years on

Becky Little and Jason Maddrell helped to build a sand dam on an Excellent expedition in 2012. They returned to lead the Excellent 2016 expedition and visited the same community four years’ on, and were astonished to see how much the area has changed.
How sand dams are changing the quality of life in rural drylands

In 2015 Excellent and our partners conducted a survey into how the overall quality of life can improve during the time that communities are engaged with sand dam project work. Here are the findings.
Giving us consent to contact you

Your support is vital to people living in drylands, so they can provide their families with clean water for life.
1,000 sand dams! An Excellent milestone

Programmes Officer, Callum Sheehan, looks at various sand dam success stories as Excellent Development reaches the milestone of enabling 1,000 sand dams in drylands.
Sand dams see 80% of farmers increase income

Excellent's Programmes Officer, Callum Sheehan, reports on recent evaluations that illustrate how drylands communities supported by sand dams are seeing an increase in household income.

What is a sand dam?
1 million sand dams for 0.5 billion people by 2040

Read about our plan to directly support other organisations to build sand dams, in turn, realising our vision to support millions of the world’s poorest people by helping them to transform their own lives through water and soil conservation in drylands.
Donate

Please donate what you can to transform lives with sand dams and clean water.
Zimbabwe (Partner: Dabane Trust)

Dabane Trust and Excellent are working together with rural communities in the semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe to develop simple, appropriate and sustainable water abstraction and food production systems.
Sand dam manual

For everything you need to know about building sand dams, click here to read (and download for free!), Sand Dams: A Practical & Technical Manual.
Watch how sand dams work

Film explaining how sand dams work and their potential impact in the world's drylands
Job opportunities
The challenge

Find out what are drylands, why they are they are such harsh regions to live, how sand dams are applicable in drylands and what difference they can make to over 40% of the world's land surface.
September 2018 sand dam expedition with Barclays Isle of Man

Barclays Isle of Man volunteers and community members share highlights from the construction of a sand dam they worked together to build in southeast Kenya in September 2018.
Judith Eaton

Chief Operating Officer