Malawi: Welt hungerhilfe (WHH) donated 166 water points to communities in Traditional Authority (TA) Kaphuka in Dedza. The aim of the donation is to boosting access to safe water in the area by 30 percent between 2022 and 2024.
According to WHH they have drilled 144 boreholes, rehabilitated 18 and constructed four stand taps. All these initiatives have been done under a project, project titled Increasing Access to Sustainable WASH services in Dedza.
The project has helped 10, 400 households get access to potable water.
The handover ceremony of boreholes in the Tradition Authority Kaphuka was hosted on Friday at Chitowo Trading Centre. Dedza District Water Development Officer, Limbani Muhiwa said TA Kaphuka was the area with the lowest access to potable water, at 55 percent.
This is according to a 2022 study conducted by Dedza District Council. “Following the intervention by WHH, access to safe water in the area has increased to 85 percent,” said Muhiwa.
He said the project had recently enabled the area to achieve Open Defecation Free (ODF) status.
Group Village head Chamwalamwanya praised WHH for the initiative. Further, He has also expressed gratitude for the positive impact it has brought to the community.
He added that some communities, such as Bonya and Tsalakunja villages, remain without access to safe water and have never tasted clean drinking water.
WHH Head of Project for Water Supply Sanitation and Hygiene Chifundo Mandala said the intervention was supported by Charity Water. They invested approximately K3 billion to promote hygiene practices in the villages.
He noted that some areas, like Wela Village, have a low water table, requiring drilling depths of over 60 meters, compared to the typical 45 meters.
He added that while the water table in some areas was sufficient. The main issue was the inaccessibility of roads, which hindered the transportation of borehole drilling machinery.
“To address this, we are exploring alternative technologies, including piped water systems, to overcome these challenges” he said.
He said the organization collaborates with local structures, such as community policing, to mitigate the problem of vandalism, which is estimated to affect around 10 percent of the infrastructure.
Between 2022 and 2024 access to potable water in Dedza District has risen from 67 to 75 percent.
WHH has mobilized more funds to drill 56 and 20 additional boreholes in TAs Kaphuka and Chilikumwendo respectively, by December 2025.