Water Availability Changes Everything

• Families report being able to wash more frequently, remaining cleaner and thus reducing the frequency of illness
• Production of healthier foods through organic farming
• Having a wider variety of nutritional foods to harvest and eat
• Sand dams decrease the number of waterborne illnesses such as Schistosomiasis (bilharzia) as the water is protected beneath the sand from snails, mosquitoes, and other disease-carrying organisms.

For Children

An external review by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank found that communities with a sand dam had “increased and steady school attendance for both boys and girls” (2010, p. 19).  This was not only because of increased water availability and shortening of distances to water sources, minimizing time wastage but also due to monetary savings resulting from cutting on the food budget as a result of increased food production, availing funds for payment of school fees.

VSLAs/ VSs have increased access to convenient loans at low interest rates, which majorly goes into payment of school fees and education-related expenditures, improving access to quality education.

Some community self-help groups choose to build water structures for the schools in their community, channeling rainwater runoff into storage tanks.

For Self Help Groups

One activity that consumes much of UDO’s time is the training of communities.  These adult education training focus on the following for each self-help group:

• Water harvesting and soil conservation
• Conservation Agriculture, Agroforestry
• Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration
• Improved Water Management
• Sustainable Livestock Management
• Crop farming enterprises (Drought Tolerant Crops)
• Village savings and loans associations
• Beekeeping
• Kitchen gardening
• Integrated clean energy interventions
• Fodder preservation
• Value addition and marketing.
• Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) for Community action planning
• Inclusive governance
• Women’s decision-making
• Community-level governance structures
• Policy and Advocacy
• Gender roles, responsibilities & time use
• Access & control of resources
• Agroecology
• Solidarity

The example of Josephine below is drawn from the 2010 External Review Final Report by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB).

Josephine has been a member of the original Utooni self-help group since 1978. She has invested sweat equity in many dams since then.  She is making a very good living for a rural Kenyan where the average per capita income is around $100 a month or $1,200 a year.  Her immediate income (income minus timber income which will take 15 years or so to realize) moved from about $5,500 in 2006 to $7,500 in 2010.  While her “retirement” portfolio grew from about $2,000 to $5,000, that is something very, very few Kenyans have any hope of – a retirement income.  This income is earned on 2.5 acres of land,  about 2km from the river, watering her vegetables and trees using her donkey to carry water. Granted she is the exception but she is proof that hard work and sand dams and terraces can make a big difference and in her case, it has been doing so for 30 years!  That speaks to sustainability. (p. 26)

Less distance to fetch water, and less time queuing to draw it, means time saved and money earned.  As a result of having water during the dry season, self-help group farmers can fetch higher prices for their fruits, vegetables, and firewood.

The village savings and loaning associations (VSLAs) provide access to savings and credit platforms for group members. This enables members to access relatively convenient and favorable loans to boost their economic activities increasing household incomes.

Sand Dams Benefit the Environment

• Store underground water to create or replenish the aquifer
• Raise the water table in the surrounding areas
• Renew natural vegetation including Indigenous trees and riparian plants
• Protect river banks from caving in, reducing erosion
• Reduce water evaporation
• Reduce the speed of the water flowing downstream

As the aquifer increases in size, wells have more water and previously dried-up springs may be revived, more natural vegetation regenerates increasing bio-diversity, and wildlife returns to the area.

Additionally, community Self Help Groups receive training from UDO on how to plant trees, establish seed banks, and start tree nurseries, and medicinal forests.

Other soil and water-related interventions mentioned and often observed during visits are:

• Composting & compost pits
• Collection/use of animal manure as fertilizer
• Crop rotation
• Planting of grasses or shrubs/trees
• Planting drought-tolerant crops