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RAFIKI in Malawi

Two communities in Malawi are waiting for their first borehole. We also work with local partners in healthcare and childhood development.

Country Director, Malawi

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Introduction from the country director

Malawi officeAddress and phone to add

Our work in Malawi

In Malawi, RAFIKI is preparing its first two community boreholes, which can start as soon as they are funded. We also work with partners in healthcare and childhood development, alongside new community development work.

What we do

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Who we serve

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Where we work

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On the map

The sites for our first wells in Malawi are not in our records yet. They will appear on a map here once they are.

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RAFIKI has worked in Malawi since year.

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Malawi

Be a founding supporter

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Funding progress bar to add once donation totals can be shown

Give nowSponsor a well

What each well involves

  1. ListenWe meet community leaders and families to understand their needs before anything is planned.
  2. Plan togetherTogether we choose the site, the local partners who will build it, and what the community will take on.
  3. Build locallyOur own drilling team, or a qualified local drilling company, drills the borehole and fits the pump.
  4. Train and ownA local water committee or named caretakers learn how the system works and how to look after it.
  5. Follow upWe check that the water keeps flowing and respond if something goes wrong.

RAFIKI to confirm what the $5,000 covers in Malawi (depth, pump, apron, water testing), and the two communities’ names and districts

Beyond the well

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Under way, next and recent

Projects in Malawi

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See every project

Projects in Malawi

Completed

Project name, place, year
People served

Active

Project name, place, year
People served

Upcoming

Project name, place, year
People served

Community stories

Once our first Malawi wells are funded and built, the stories of the communities behind them will be told here.

Read project stories
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To add
  • Two or three written stories from Malawi, each with a photo and a few words from the community

The need for safe water in Malawi

Malawi has the highest rate of basic water access of the four countries where RAFIKI works. But a borehole nearby is not the same as water that is safe and reliable.

10%

of rural Malawians have safely managed water, although 73% of all Malawians have a basic service.

WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2024
57%

of 2,418 groundwater drinking points tested failed WHO’s guideline for E. coli.

Hinton et al., 2024
30%

of hand pumps in a Malawi programme study failed within five years of installation.

Kumwenda et al., 2023
92%

of people without water at home rely on a woman or girl to fetch it. Girls under 15 do it for 9.4%, the most of our four countries.

Malawi DHS, 2024

A basic service is not always a safe one. Only 18% of Malawians have safely managed water, and 10% in rural areas. Fewer than half (43%) use water free from contamination, and only 18% have water at home.

Sources: WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2024

About two-thirds of Malawians drink from a borehole, and around 80% rely on groundwater. Many of those water points break or become contaminated. In national testing more than half of groundwater points failed WHO’s E. coli guideline, with the density of pit latrines nearby a key cause. Water points have stayed only 69–77% functional for more than 20 years. That is why looking after a well, with a trained water committee and money saved for repairs, matters as much as drilling it.

Sources: Malawi DHS, 2024 · Hinton et al., 2024 · Kumwenda et al., 2023

Unsafe water has a heavy cost. The 2022–23 cholera outbreak reached all 29 health districts, with 59,376 cases and 1,772 deaths, the deadliest in Malawi’s history, and cases rose again in 2026, to 3,088 by the end of May. Cyclone Freddy destroyed or contaminated community wells in 2023, and the 2024 El Niño drought led to a state of disaster in 23 of 28 districts.

Sources: WHO Africa, 2024 · WHO, 2023 · WHO, 2026 · OCHA, 2023 · UN Geneva, 2024

Districts for the first two Malawi wells to add; Malawi DHS 2024 has district figures we can show here once they are chosen

“Basic” water means an improved source, such as a borehole, protected well or tap, that takes 30 minutes or less to reach and collect from, including queuing. “Safely managed” means water at home, available when needed and free from contamination. National surveys (DHS) and WHO/UNICEF estimates are measured differently, so their figures can differ slightly.

Current needs in Malawi

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{{cnL}}Ways to get involved