Micro-hydro electricity

Help turn the power on

The people of Zimbabwe are ready for change. They just need the power.

Practical Action's work in Zimbabwe has continued through the difficult years - and now our work is planning to bring rural communities more stability and prosperity than ever before. We want to help villagers build their own micro-hydro systems - so that they can use power to transform their lives.

A new micro-hydro system in the village of Dazi in Nyanga, is just one of the 1,200 micro-hydro systems we have set up around the world. Work began last October. We sourced local materials and skilled labour to help villages build their weir, construct the delivery channel and dig the 500 metre trench needed to pipe water to the turbine. It was often hard, but people's enthusiasm never faltered for a moment.

The project is almost completed and Dazi school is already linked to the supply - and in the coming months more and more local buildings and homes will be connected - improving the lives of over1,100 people.

Could you help even more people turn the power on?

In the eastern highlands, many communities are isolated by the steep terrain, homes are too remote to be connected to mains electricity, most families rely on wood, charcoal or dung for cooking, lighting and heating. But the rugged landscape and high annual rainfall make the area ideal for micro-hydro systems like those Practical Action is setting up with local communities.

In the Nyanga district in Zimbabwe a micro-hydro system would enable the local school to have computers and other equipment, the village clinic could safely store vaccines in a refrigerator, and local families could light their homes. Electricity will transform people's daily lives.

As Isaac Moyo from Nyanga says, "we think and dream of having electricity"

Please make a donation today and help make the future brighter.