About
Us

We're changing the status quo

We know that change takes time and long-term commitment is crucial.

We know that people don't want handouts. They want service and reliability.

We know that when people have their basic needs met, they can do incredible things.

Read more about our unique approach
A Water Compass staff member with a clipboard in front of a water point, providing basic maintenance

We also know a whole lot about water.

A female Water Compass staff member surveying a woman in the community about her community's water needs

Meet our Team

Rashidah Kulanyi
Executive Director

Rashidah is a seasoned development professional with over 16 years of experience in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector in Uganda. Her expertise spans project design, strategic planning, monitoring, evaluation, capacity building and program management at local and national levels. Previously, Rashidah served for ten years as the Country Coordinator for Simavi - Uganda, spearheading integrated WASH programming and coordinating a consortium of nine Dutch and six Uganda organizations. Rashidah holds postgraduate qualifications in business administration, project planning and management, public health, and public infrastructure management. She’s always eager to connect and explore ways to create sustainable impact in last-mile communities in Uganda!

Florence Samanya
Finance Manager

Florence has over 12 years’ experience of financial stewardship in the private sector and with non-profit organizations. Although her position is not field-based, Florence enjoys working with Water Compass because of our focus on community development and improving access to water and sanitation. Florence ensures by having proper controls in place Water Compass’ work is effective, transparent and serves our partner communities sustainably. Florence has a bachelor’s degree in commerce and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Humphrey Katamba
Solar-Powered Water Systems Engineer

Humphrey is a specialist when it comes to solar-powered water supply systems. He has extensive experience with the design, construction, installation, operation and maintenance of solar water supply and irrigation systems. A dedicated WASH professional, he leads Water Compass’ effort to sustainably and efficiently provide clean water to rural communities in Uganda. Humphrey holds a BSc in Water Resources Engineering from Busitema University and a Certificate in WASH in Emergency Situations from Makerere University School of Public Health.

Wilberforce Kagwa
Technical Supervisor

Kagwa has worked on water and sanitation programs in Uganda for over 20 years. He has infinite knowledge of the design and construction of water and sanitation infrastructure such as shallow wells, protected springs, boreholes, piped water schemes and latrines. He oversees the construction and maintenance of Water Compass’ solar-powered water systems. He also happens to be a skilled carpenter. In his career Kagwa has helped tens-of-thousands of his fellow Ugandans to gain access to clean water and improved sanitation and proudly continues to do so.

        Water Compass has relieved our burden!  As a community, we used to struggle to maintain one handpump, but Water Compass, they have saved us. They manage the new solar water system without any problem. They are like our family and take care of us.

Salongo Kikambi, Vice Chairperson of Mbirizi village
Clean water pouring from a pipe into a small pool of water on the ground

Meet our Board

Our Uganda Board

Diana Keesiga
Water and Sanitation Expert

Diana is an engineer, water & sanitation expert and certified project manager currently serving as the Director Engineering and Construction at the USAID-funded Uganda Sanitation for Health Activity implemented by Tetra Tech ARD. Prior to this role, she worked with Water for People Uganda in various capacities. She received her master’s degree in Water and Waste Engineering (with Distinction) from the Water, Engineering and Development Center at Loughborough University (UK). Throughout her career she has worked to improve water and sanitation standards in schools, health care facilities and populations residing in rural areas of Uganda.

Naomi Mutegaya
Human Resource Consultant

Naomi is a freelance Human Resource Consultant with extensive experience supporting organizations to align human resource and business strategies to positively impact organizational growth and development. She has over 25 years of senior level practical/advisory experience with twelve years at international level with NGOs including Save the Children, GIZ and others in several countries in Africa and Asia. She is passionate about making a difference in people’s lives especially the vulnerable communities. Naomi is also a proud and active member of Rotary International.

Mariam Lutakome
Uganda Board Member

Mariam is the Finance Manager for the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in Uganda. She possesses a wide spectrum of experience in assessing and building organizational capacity of non-government organizations (NGOs) at the community, national and international levels in the areas of grants and contracts management, finance, administration, and human resource management. She is familiar with the rules and regulations of all major donors supporting Uganda, e.g., USAID, EU, SIDA, CIDA, and DFID and is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Judith Tindyebwa
Uganda Board Member

Judith is a social worker who has dedicated most of her career to improve the welfare of vulnerable children in Uganda. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in social work from Makerere University in Uganda and an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics. Judith has considerable experience in designing, managing, and evaluating complex development projects in the areas of HIV/AIDS care and treatment and Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health including Menstrual Health Management. In her free time, Judith loves to read, take nature walks, exercise and watch comedies.

Irene Nakiyemba
Uganda Board Member

Irene is a public health specialist whose greatest passion is to bring hope and optimism to people who face day-to-day challenges in their communities. In her career, Irene has focused on working with women, children and families across Uganda to find simple and applicable solutions to improve their health and livelihoods. Irene has spent years promoting community health through various water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects and, as a board member, advises Water Compass on how to make the greatest impact through our programs. She is currently pursuing her degree in public health.

Daniel Duke Kiyingi
Uganda Board Member

Daniel is an accomplished lawyer with a multidisciplinary and vast range of experience with corporate and commercial law. He has also undertaken forensic audit assignments involving expenditure review, value for money and performance audits, assessing social fraud, regulatory compliance, corporate intelligence assessments, and procurement compliance and controls review. Daniel has provided his services to clients in both the public and private sectors across the United States, Europe, East, Western, and Southern Africa. He’s also a dedicated Rotary Club member loves supporting projects in underserved communities in Uganda.

Our U.S. Board

Matt Streisfeld
US Board Member

Matt is a Partner at Oak HC/FT focusing on growth equity and early-stage venture opportunities exclusively in financial services technology. Prior to joining Oak HC/FT, Matt was a Vice President with LLR Partners, a middle-market growth equity firm, where he focused on investments in financial services technology companies. Matt was previously a Senior Associate at Lightyear Capital, a private equity firm focused on middle-market financial services companies. Matt was also an Associate in the insurance investment banking group of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Isha Nirola
US Board Member

Isha is currently a doctoral student at Harvard School of Public Health. Before joining Harvard, she was the Community Health Director at Possible Health, where she led the Community Health strategy and oversaw operations at two key levels of Possible’s hub-and-spoke healthcare model – clinics and community health workers. Isha also worked as a Senior Technical Advisor for the Carter Center in South Sudan, where she managed parts of their Guinea Worm eradication program. Prior to her work in South Sudan, Isha contributed to a number of fact-finding missions for the Human Rights Law Network’s Reproductive Rights Unit; served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Kiribati as a Health and Community Development worker; and worked as a Health Advocate in Baltimore City.

Iain Cox
US Board Member

Iain is the Political Consellor at the British Embassy in The Philippines. He has previously served as Deputy Head of Mission in Mongolia and as Second Secretary Political in Ethiopia. Prior to joining the Foreign Office he was a regional manager for a water and sanitation charity in Uganda. Iain has an MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and an MA in Modern History from Somerville College, Oxford.

Bronwyn Nichol
US Board Member

Bronwyn is the Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness Coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Africa Regional Office. She is responsible for providing strategic, technical, and managerial leadership for epidemic and pandemic preparedness programming, as well proving technical support to emergency health response. Prior to joining IFRC, Bronwyn managed health response and research in DR Congo and as part of the West Africa Ebola Response in Sierra Leone with International Relief Committee. Other previous work experience includes health promotion in Jordan with Syrian refugees, sexual and reproductive health programming in Cambodia, Guinea Worn eradication in Chad, public health research in DRC, and HIV/AIDS programming in Cameroon.

Tim Martin
US Board Member

Tim is a Vice President with the real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) advising the firm's national clients on their life science real estate portfolios. Prior to working for JLL, Tim held similar roles with Colliers International and Spaulding & Slye, in addition to working for BioMed Realty Trust. In addition to his work with Water Compass, he is also serves as the chairman of the building committee for the historic Trinity Church in Boston.

Ivan Busulwa
US Board Member

Ivan is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate at the Harvard School of Public Health. Before joining Harvard, Ivan led the Private Sector Engagement team at the USAID/Uganda Private Health Support Program. This team worked to increase the affordability and improve the quality of private-sector health services in Uganda. Ivan holds Masters’ degrees in Public Health (MPH) and Business Administration (MBA) from Boston University.

Nick Guillemette
US Board Member

Nick has spent the majority of his professional career connecting patients and families with Boston area hospitals through online marketing campaigns. Nick is currently a Digital Marketing Manager at Boston Children’s Hospital, the top ranked pediatric hospital in the United States. Prior to joining Boston Children’s, Nick was the Director of Paid Search Advertising at Charles River Interactive, where he and his team provided digital marketing services to the healthcare, higher education and non-profit sectors. Nick was previously a Strategy Analyst and Account Supervisor at Gupta Media, a full-service digital advertising agency focused on creating and executing strategic, data-driven marketing and advertising campaigns for the world’s largest music and entertainment brands.

Leslie Turner
US Board Member

Leslie Turner is a public health professional devoted to driving health equity globally. She is currently a Consultant at The Chartis Group within their Payer Advisory Practice. In this role, she works with clients to address healthcare financing, access, and risk challenges. Prior to Chartis, Leslie was a Public Health Analyst at RTI International where she managed a biobehavioral intervention study in three health departments across North Carolina. She also supported research and administrative efforts across gender-based studies in South Africa. Leslie has a Master of Public Health in Health Policy from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.

Ned Morgan
Executive Director

Ned has spent over a decade leading water, sanitation and hygiene projects and disease prevention programs across the world. He’s worked on long term development initiatives as well as emergency response programs in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Jordan, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Liberia. He received his master’s degree in Water and Environmental Management from the Water, Engineering and Development Center at Loughborough University in the UK. Based on his experience, Ned started Water Compass with the intention to improve how water, sanitation and hygiene programs are planned, implemented and managed to ensure they have a lasting impact.

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