KAMPALA, UGANDA — With just hours left before nominations close at midnight tonight (August 15), the race is on to find Uganda’s most dedicated champions of clean water, sanitation, and hygiene. The inaugural WASH Impact and Influence Awards, set for October 3, promise to shine a national spotlight on those transforming lives in one of the country’s most urgent public health battlegrounds.
Launched in late May 2025 by the Uganda Water and Sanitation Network (UWASNET) in partnership with the Ministries of Water and Environment, Health, and Education, and Sports, the awards mark the first coordinated effort to recognise excellence in WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) at a national level. Backed by the Austrian Development Agency and a coalition of local and international partners, the initiative seeks not just to celebrate, but to catalyse, a step change in how Uganda addresses its persistent WASH challenges.
For Charles Opolot, an events consultant with the HAP WASH Promotion Initiative, the awards are a long-overdue platform for honouring the quiet determination of those working far from the limelight.
“The inaugural ceremony promises to be a landmark event on Uganda’s WASH calendar, celebrating the champions whose dedication, creativity, and influence are transforming lives and communities, health care facilities, and schools across Uganda,” he said in a statement released on Tuesday, August 12.
A Crisis Measured in Millions
The stakes could hardly be higher. More than 30 million Ugandans still lack access to safe sanitation, according to sector data, while millions more struggle with unreliable or contaminated water sources. The consequences ripple across public health, education, economic productivity, and climate resilience. Poor sanitation is linked to preventable disease outbreaks, school absenteeism, and high maternal and child mortality rates.
“Beyond the ceremony, the Awards will serve as a learning platform and a space for knowledge exchange. Documenting and sharing case studies, success stories, and innovative approaches from nominees will help disseminate knowledge, strengthen collaboration, and inspire action across the sector,” Opolot added.
Celebrating Excellence Across Sectors
The 2025 awards will spotlight work across seven categories, including Programmatic Impact, which honours community-based programs that have measurably improved WASH access; Youth-led WASH Initiatives, recognising young people mobilising peers and pioneering solutions; Technology, Innovation, and Financing, celebrating tools, apps, or models reshaping the WASH landscape; Media Excellence, for journalism that changes public attitudes and policy; Research and Academia, acknowledging scholarship that advances WASH policy and practice; and Lifetime Achievement, awarded to individuals whose decades of service have transformed the sector.
Nominations close August 15, and organisers say the diversity of categories is intentional, designed to reflect WASH’s reach into education, healthcare, governance, and environmental protection.
“By recognising excellence in multiple sectors, we are saying: WASH is everyone’s business,” Opolot noted.
Beyond the Ceremony
While the October gala in Kampala will be the public face of the awards, UWASNET and its partners have built in a longer game. Each finalist’s work will be documented and shared as a case study, creating a repository of replicable, evidence-based solutions for the sector.
Opolot believes this knowledge-sharing could be the awards’ most lasting contribution:
A National Call to Action
The organisers are urging last-minute submissions from NGOs, researchers, journalists, innovators, and citizens whose work has demonstrably improved access to clean water, safe sanitation, or hygiene services. Applications require a summary of achievements, evidence such as reports or testimonials, and must be submitted via the UWASNET website.
With the nomination clock winding down, the first-ever WASH Impact and Influence Awards are shaping up to be more than a one-night celebration. For a sector too often defined by scarcity and struggle, they represent something rarer: a public, national moment to celebrate progress, and those determined to accelerate it.