BEYOND WATER

A pioneering, municipality-wide clean water programme

More than just clean water:
Everything that comes before the tap and everything that comes after

Beyond Water is our innovative, municipality-wide clean water programme in Ambohimahamasina, designed, developed and implemented together with our partner communities.

Ambohimahamasina is one of our longest-standing partner municipalities and home to around 40,000 people, each of whom we aim to provide with access to clean, safe water for life through this programme.

We estimate that Beyond Water will take 4 years to realise. Once completed, Ambohimahamasina could become the first municipality in Madagascar with 100% access to clean water.

What does Beyond Water even mean?

Our clean water work has always included infrastructure, hygiene and sanitation training, and the creation of local water maintenance committees.

But Beyond Water goes even further, pairing the most appropriate infrastructure with a deeply collaborative approach and taking responsibility for the entire supply chain of clean water, from where raindrops fall to how the water gets used and managed long-term.

    • Planning and implementing the project in close partnership with the communities, from initial analysis through to long-term management and further development

    • Protecting and regenerating the watersheds through our TreeMad programme, ensuring each drop of rain infiltrates the soil to replenish the water table

    • Extracting water sustainably by building the most appropriate infrastructure across villages, schools and health centres

    • Strengthening long-term local maintenance systems

    • Connecting water access to commune-level governance, supporting commune representatives to integrate water security into broader development planning

    • Providing education and raising awareness on health, hygiene, water use and environmental protection

    • Seizing the opportunities that reliable water access creates (e.g. market gardens, tree nurseries, menstrual health kit projects, town and country planning and much more)

Types of water systems

  • Boreholes access groundwater stored deep beneath the surface. A manually operated handpump (Canzee-pump) draws this water up, providing a reliable source of clean water.

  • Solar-powered systems use energy from the sun to pump groundwater from a borehole into elevated storage tanks. From there, water is distributed through a network of pipes to multiple taps, often serving several villages, schools and health centres from a single source.

  • Gravity-fed systems channel water from protected springs or reservoirs down to communities through a network of pipes and tap stands.

  • Home filtration systems provide an alternative solution for isolated households or where drilling is not feasible. These systems remove harmful bacteria and contaminants, making safe water from existing sources.

  • Alongside water access, sanitation facilities are essential for public health. We support communities and local authorities to construct and maintain latrines, showers and hand-washing stations while promoting hygiene practices.

Each installation is selected through joint social analysis, technical assessments and planning. We choose the most geologically and socially appropriate infrastructure to ensure long-term functionality. WASH training is always included, no matter what the water solution.

Learn more about how we typically build a borehole

Step by step

Implementation of Beyond Water typically follows these steps:

  1. Coordination with local authorities and community leaders

  2. Participatory planning and social mapping to examine needs, land use, priorities, and roles and responsibilities together

  3. Feasibility studies and technical planning

  4. Environmental and watershed protection, planning and implementation

  5. Formation and training of water maintenance committees

  6. Material delivery, land preparation, site blessing and infrastructure construction

  7. Inauguration celebration and formal handover

  8. Education and awareness raising on water use, hygiene and sanitation and environmental protection

  9. Governance support at all levels

  10. Identifying and seizing practical opportunities created by clean water access

Why Ambohimahamasina?

Beyond Water builds on 25 years of trusted partnership and ongoing work in Ambohimahamasina, including:

  • School feeding programme in 33 schools

  • Teacher training and education support

  • Health support and training (including maternal and child health)

  • Livelihoods initiatives such as the Soamiray women’s weaving association, poultry rearing and climate-resilient farming initiatives

  • Solar energy projects

  • TreeMad tree growing and community forest management

Water connects all of this and more. It improves health, supports school attendance and cooking, strengthens agriculture and livestock rearing, reduces pressure on surrounding forests and deepens local governance.

We will remain adaptable in our approach, ensuring that Beyond Water continues to be shaped by the priorities of our partner communities.

 

Pacific Row, 2025

In 2025, Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan Maclean completed a 9,000-mile, non-stop and unsupported row across the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first trio ever to do so and the fastest human-powered Pacific crossing in history.

Through their fundraising campaign with The Maclean Foundation, they raised £1 million for our clean water work, funding the launch of Beyond Water. This support is enabling us to move from individual installations to a coordinated, municipality-wide clean water programme, designed for maximum impact.

A massive thank you to everyone who contributed to making this possible.

Building Beyond Water

We currently estimate that we will build 45 new boreholes, 10 solar powered systems, 5 gravity-fed systems, and distribute thousands of home filtration kits, alongside the rehabilitation of existing infrastructure. However as feasibility studies are currently ongoing, those numbers may change in the coming months.

More to come.