Enhancing drought resilience: evaluating the livelihood outcomes of a solar-powered water system in Hanzila Village, Southern Zambia

Increasingly severe and frequent droughts significantly affect livelihoods, agriculture, and water security in Zambia, particularly in the Southern Province. In response, the ACTION Grant Program collaborated with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Monze Town Council to implement a locally led initiative to build resilience against droughts in the Hanzila community of Monze district. The project emphasized community participation, from inception until completion, to create locally tailored and sustainable solutions. This led to the installation of a multi-purpose solar-powered borehole in September 2023, providing water for drinking and domestic use, irrigation, and livestock through ten strategically located taps. In July 2024 an evaluation was initiated to assess the extent to which the project had met its developmental objectives of sustainably increasing the community’s resilience to droughts. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, the assessment revealed significant livelihood improvements. Reliance on unclean sources, such as scoop holes and open streams, was eliminated, with no household accessing water for drinking or domestic purposes from these sources. Households also reported reduced distances to access water and no longer spent time queuing. Furthermore, the proportion of households engaging in gardening activities increased from 23% to 69%, thereby enhancing food security, nutrition, and income. Additionally, 28% of cattle owners gained reliable access to water for livestock during the dry season, replacing the long trips they made to open streams. When asked about remaining hardships, households furthest from the taps still faced accessibility challenges. Where wealthier households could finance the extension of supply lines to their homesteads, poorer households could not. Further, irrigators still missed in-field irrigation tools. The study recommends scaling up similar locally led initiatives and technically supported models to ensure sustainable water security and climate adaptation for other drought-prone communities in Zambia.