Our philosophy and approach

Published in July 2012

At Excellent Development we pride ourselves in the philosophy and approach of our work - this short film explains the way we engage with communities, encourage working together and learning from each other.

Latest

I Give a Dam

I have seen the lasting impact that Excellent does to support the local communities in Africa, results of which are far reaching and life changing.
Sand Dam 2020 - Cheryl

I have joined a group of amazing people from Barclays who are teaming up with excellent development to build a sand dam in rural Kenya.
Abbi Fry's Sand Dam page

An excellent opportunity to support a community
Sand Dam Kenya 2020

In Sept 2020 I'll be joining a team of colleagues to build a Sand Dam in rural Kenya. I'm raising funds for the construction materials of the dam and for agricultural support for the local community.

Watch how sand dams work

Film explaining how sand dams work and their potential impact in the world's drylands
Time-lapse of a sand dam being built

Watch as Kwa Voki self-help group build their sand dam in Makueni County, southeast Kenya.
Watch how sand dams work (French)

Film explaining how sand dams work and their potential impact in the world's drylands (with French subtitles)
1,000 sand dams - thank you!

Since 2002, Excellent has enabled over 1,000 sand dams in 8 countries, providing clean water for over 1 million people. Hear from some of those people who give a big thank you to all supporters.
Why the Maasai in Kenya need sand dams - Part 1

The people of the Iltirim community in Lekurruki, Kenya, explain why they want a sand dam and the difference it could make...
Why the Maasai in Kenya need sand dams - Part 2

The people of the Iltirim community in Lekurruki, Kenya, continue to explain the different sand dams could make to their lives...
Raincatchers: a film by Al Jazeera

Watch what happened when Al Jazeera paid a visit to our partners in Kenya, Africa Sand Dam Foundation, to learn how sand dams are transforming people's lives.
Who is Excellent Development?

This short film explains who we are and what we do; a charity supporting rural, dryland communities to create food and water security by building sand dams, and conserving water and soil.
Watch how sand dams work (Spanish)

Film explaining how sand dams work and their potential impact in the world's drylands (with Spanish subtitles).
The power of sand dams in Kenya

Sand dams are a cheap, innovative solution to water shortages in drylands, which also transform environments beyond recognition. Find out more about this remarkable technology in this video featuring interviews with Excellent's founders, supporters, those in the community that we support and Professor Jesse Muyambi from the University of Nairobi.

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. Note: if you would like to donate to our Big Give Christmas Challenge and have your donations doubled, please see here: https://www.excellentdevelopment.com/news/christmaschallenge2019 - All donations must be made online between midday December 3rd and midday December 10th. Thank you!
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.
Watch how sand dams work

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

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