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  • what-we-do
  1. About us
  2. What we do

What we do

Excellent Development is a registered charitable company that supports some of the world’s poorest people to transform their own lives through water and soil conservation in drylands. We do this in three ways:

  • By working with local partners, we support rural communities to gain access to clean water close to their homes and to invest in sustainable agriculture.
  • By pioneering sand dams, we promote and support the application of sand dam technology by key stakeholders in drylands.
  • By influencing and educating those who can help achieve our vision including – but not limited to – policy makers, international NGOs, government departments and civil engineering firms. 

Our charitable objects

  • To promote the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment for the public benefit; and
  • To relieve poverty, in particular but not exclusively, by supporting sustainable development* projects; and
  • To advance the education of the public in the subjects of sustainable development, conservation and the relief of poverty, in particular but not exclusively by the undertaking and dissemination of research.

*Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Our purpose

  • To support rural communities in dryland areas to gain access to clean water and grow enough food to eat and sell.
  • To pioneer the application of sand dam technology as part of an integrated approach to water security, sustainable development and infrastructure development.
  • To influence and educate via research, development of manuals and proofs, lobbying and partnerships such that Excellent becomes the acknowledged source of expertise in this area.

Strategic objectives and public benefit statement

In setting our objectives and planning our activities our Trustees have given careful consideration to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit.

  • Support communities in drylands worldwide to achieve water and food security through soil and water conservation and improved farming techniques, as enabled by sand dams.
  • Promote community self-help as the critical factor in creating sustainable development.
  • Establish sand dams as a key water supply option alongside the more common water solutions.
  • Engage with organisations at the local, national and international level to influence and support wider adoption of sand dam technology.
  • Promote sand dams and soil and water conservation as a means of combating desertification, mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change, conserving biodiversity and enabling green economic growth.
  • Promote the use of sand dam technology as an alternative method of road crossings for seasonal rivers – both for public works and in wildlife reserves.
  • Enhance development education and awareness worldwide.
1 million sand dams for 0.5 billion people by 2040

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. Read more

Published: 11th May, 2018

Updated: 29th January, 2019

Author:

Related topics:
  • What we do
Our philosophy and values

Our philosophy and values

Our philosophy and values define who we are, every action we take and how we behave towards others. They are our most profound convictions. Each of us is called to respect, experience, enact and promote them. Read more

Published: 11th May, 2018

Updated: 15th October, 2018

Author:

Related topics:
  • What we do
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Showing 10 of 2

Latest

  • Excellent win 2020 iF Social Impact Prize!

    Excellent win 2020 iF Social Impact Prize!

    Excellent Development are awarded an International Forum Design GmbH (iF) Social Impact Prize for our sand dam project work in southeast Kenya.

  • Empower families to feed themselves

    Empower families to feed themselves

    We need your help so that we can continue to support more dryland communities to build sand dams and implement climate-smart farming, providing vital food and water supplies to vulnerable families.

  • £83,443 raised in Big Give Christmas Challenge 2020!

    £83,443 raised in Big Give Christmas Challenge 2020!

    In this year's Big Give Christmas Challenge you helped us raise over £80,000 to build two sand dams and implement a range of environmental protection measures in southern Zimbabwe.

  • Missing school and education due to COVID-19 and lack of water

    Missing school and education due to COVID-19 and lack of water

    Kasangi Simon, a 12-year-old pupil at Nzeluni Primary School, southeast Kenya, shares her experience coping with water shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what difference a school water tank would make.

Most read

  • What is a sand dam?

    What is a sand dam?

  • 1 million sand dams for 0.5 billion people by 2040

    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

    Donate

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

  • Zimbabwe (Partner: Dabane Trust)

    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

    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

    Watch how sand dams work

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

  • The challenge

    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.

  • Job opportunities

  • September 2018 sand dam expedition with Barclays Isle of Man

    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.

  • Working together with Rotary

    Working together with Rotary

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Registered in England & Wales No. 4432166. Registered charity No. 1094478

Excellent Development, 7-14 Great Dover Street London, SE1 4YR, United Kingdom