South African Learners Develop App for Water Conservation

Our climate is changing, and while the effects can be observed around the globe, certain countries, like South Africa, are more severely impacted. Not only does the country lie in a drought belt, more than 50% of its water resources go to agriculture. With South Africa’s climate warming at more than double the speed of the global average, the population is at risk of suffering from water shortage as early as 2030. 16-year-old twins Sanelisiwe and Sandisiwe Nhlozi from Durban are aware of the problem. “It often happens that there is not enough water in our municipality,” say Sanelisiwe and Sandisiwe. “We often go weeks without tap water. That’s when the water tanks come to supply us.” The culprit is often debris in the river, blocking the water flow, causing the pipes to burst.

The South African government has been tackling the problem for years, releasing the National Water Act and Water Services Act in 1998 and 1997 respectively. Every year around World Water Day, the country organises a nationwide campaign called ‘Water Week’, sensitising the population about the urgency of water conservation. The role of education in addressing climate change is increasingly recognised, as it contributes to climate action, helps address the risks and effects of climate change and supports the transformation of humankind’s relationship with nature. Since 2019, VVOB has partnered with the South African government and Fundisa for Change to put climate change education into teacher professional development through Keep it Cool. With funding from the Flemish government, this project is now in its second phase and equips school leaders and teachers with the skills to set up change projects with youth and the community for climate action, and to initiate youth dialogues.

Buhlebemfundo Secondary School, where Sanelisiwe and Sadisiwe attend, is supported by the Keep it Cool project and has been organising an environmental club for years, where learners volunteer to organise school-wide projects around climate change, gardening and recycling.

Although their municipality developed multiple awareness programmes around water shortage and conservation, learners Sanelisiwe and Sandisiwe Nhlozi noticed that younger generations their age were not paying attention. Inspired to set up a project about water conservation that captured the attention of their peers, they developed an app.  

“We wanted to create something interactive, something for the whole family to take part in”, says Sanelisiwe. Together, they developed “Drop Drop”, a mobile app that raises awareness about water shortage through puzzles, skits and quizzes. “We live in the 21st century so why not develop something that combines the school curriculum, SDG 6, South Africa’s legislation, and is engaging too?” Sandisiwe adds.

Teacher Phindile Mmema applauds their sense of initiative: “Nowadays we all rely on our smartphones, and I love that they looked at their generation’s behaviour to find a medium that would stick.” The app, which won the South African Youth Water Prize in 2024, was a collaborative effort. Using the skills developed in their engineering, design and graphics classes, the twins also sought help from their schoolmates studying information technology.

“We didn’t have money to go to coding classes, so we taught ourselves the main coding languages through YouTube videos," Sandisiwe proudly says. Although Drop Drop and earned accolades at both provincial and national levels of the competition, the development was not without its challenges. “It was hard to balance the project with our regular schoolwork, but the biggest challenge was the lack of funding."

A lack of funding seems to be a general issue, also for the environmental club. “Our secondary school is a no-fee school. While this is good for our community, it does create some difficulties for the teachers,” admits Phindile. “If we want to take our students on clean-up excursions so they can see the effects of pollution in real life, that means we have to pay for these excursions ourselves.”

Despite the lack of funding, Drop Drop’s recognition at the South African Youth Water Prize shows what is possible when learners are included in the design of education. They know well what it is they need. “I think the reason young people are so motivated to create awareness about climate change is because we see the challenges happening and see the change that is necessary more clearly”, Sandisiwe explains. “Why wait until the problem gets bigger? We need to act now.” 

Buhlebemfundo Secondary School’s involvement in the Keep it Cool project is clearly paying off, as teacher Phindile Mmema sees a transformation in her learners’ behaviour: “It really makes me happy that our learners are becoming aware of the rapid changes in our climate,” she proudly says. “They often come to me to talk about the weather or lack of rainfall.” This growing awareness is echoed by Sanelisiwe, who laughs: “We now understand just how serious a dripping tap can be, and we make sure to call the security staff if there’s a problem with the plumbing.”