Project Description
Tufts Engineers Without Borders began partnering with communities in Malawi in 2017, building long term, community driven water access and sanitation solutions. Our first major project was a borehole in Solomoni, drilled between 2018–2019 and later mechanized in 2023 to expand water access and reliability at a primary and secondary school.
In Summer 2024, our travel team returned to Malawi for an assessment trip focused on understanding the needs of two communities, Makwelani and Naisi. Using the results of this assessment, the chapter began designing a rainwater harvesting system in Makwelani for Kasupe Primary School during Fall 2024. During regular check ins with our local partner, Joshua Orphan and Community Care, we also learned that Solobala’s 257 households had long relied on a single borehole. This urgent need led one of our technical teams to begin working on a new borehole implementation for Solobala.
In Summer 2025, we successfully drilled the Solobala borehole and, in the same trip, conducted follow up assessments in Makwelani, Solobala, and at Kasupe Primary School to gather new data for future project planning.
During the 2025-2026 academic year, our chapter is focused on refining the rainwater harvesting system design, developing handwashing stations and a shower/changing room for girls at Kasupe Primary School, to prepare for the first phase of implementation. We are also focused on planning fror the monitor and evaluation of the Solobala borehole. These efforts are supported by our partners including Joshua Orphan and Community Care and Freshwater Project International, and are driven entirely by the collaboration between students, mentors, and community members.
If you’re interested in joining the Malawi project or supporting our work, please reach out to the project leads, we’d love to have you on the team.
