The International Water Association (IWA) has put out a call for nominations for the 2023 IWA Water & Development Awards.

The awards are open to individuals or organisations active in the sector and aim to encourage the sustainable management of water in low and middle income countries. Eligible individuals or organisations can be drawn from practice, academia, science, consultancy, equipment manufacturers, NGOs and civil society, international organisations or government.

The awards recognise excellence, leadership and innovation, and Kala Vairavamoorthy, executive director of the IWA says, "IWA is committed to recognising the special contributions and achievements of its members and water sector professionals, and the invaluable contribution they make to key innovations in water science and management."

There are two categories of award:

Water & Development Award for Practice

This award celebrates outstanding accomplishments in the practice of forward-thinking applications and solutions to advance clean and safe water and sanitation in low and middle-income countries.

These solutions can range from specific technologies and infrastructure to innovative approaches that improve performance, efficiency and sustainability in operations and maintenance. The award also recognises social innovation, social enterprise and social entrepreneurship.

Water & Development Award for Research 

This award recognises and promotes high-quality, impactful research. Research is the powerhouse of disruptive and breakthrough innovation.

This award celebrates research that is challenging existing methods and approaches to create new opportunities in the area of sustainable water and sanitation. It is open to research of all types, as well as early-stage business projects that are not yet market ready.

Winner of the 2022 awards were:

• African Sand Dam Foundation, a Kenyan NGO helping farmers in arid and semi-arid lands gain access to clean drinking water and improve their income and food security
• Professor Damir Brdjanovic, whose work in capacity development at IHE Delft in the Netherlands is helping train thousands of sanitation champions through education, research and innovation

Nominations close on 18 June 2023 and the 2023 winners will be announced at the IWA Water and Development Congress & Exhibition, 10-14 December in Kigali, Rwanda.

For more information and to submit nominations, please visit this page.