Women in WASH & RWSN Mentorship Programme

About:

Organisations: Agenda for Change (Women in WASH) and RWSN, the Rural Water Supply Network
Official Websites: washagendaforchange.org and rural-water-supply.net

Industry: Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
Location(s): Global, with most members in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America
Programme: Six months, April to September 2026, in English, French and Spanish

Overview:

Agenda for Change runs the Women in WASH Mentorship Program, which connects junior, mid-career and senior women working in water, sanitation and hygiene. RWSN has run a mentoring programme for the water sector since 2019. Since 2023 the two have run their programmes together: a women-only Women in WASH track, with traditional and near-peer mentoring, and an RWSN Career Progression track that's open to water professionals of all genders. The programme is free for participants.

The challenge:

From 2021 to 2025, participants chose their own mentor or mentee on a self-selection platform. That had been a fix for an older problem: assigned matches that people felt didn't fit their needs or skills. But self-selection put the work of matching on participants, and the programme kept growing. 2025 brought 488 people from 81 countries. For 2026 the partners wanted every participant to get a well-fitted match without the secretariat pairing hundreds of people by hand.

Pain Points:

• Matching that relied on hundreds of busy professionals finding their own fit.
• Two tracks with different rules (women-only, and open to all) running in one community.
• Members spread across more than 80 countries, three languages and very different career stages.

The solution:

For the 2026 cohort, Agenda for Change and RWSN moved the programme onto OneUpOneDown. Both tracks run in one shared pool, so the community stays together while each track keeps its own rules.

Implementation Process:

• One pool, two tracks: Women in WASH members are matched only with women. RWSN Career Progression members are matched across the whole water community.
• Intelligent matching: OneUpOneDown matched mentors and mentees on skills, experience, goals and the support each person asked for, across borders and time zones.
• Managed for the secretariat: Profiles, matching, meeting booking, reminders and feedback all run on the platform. That left the partners free to focus on the community, webinars and career days.

The results:

Matching Insights:

• Nearly everyone who joined found their match. Agenda for Change called it "our matching process taken to the next level".
• 57% of matches crossed a border, linking water professionals from Ghana to Jordan and from Nepal to Guyana.
• 262 mentoring relationships were completed on the platform, and 99.1% of members completed their profiles.
• Many senior professionals joined as mentors to give back what they wished they'd had, often after years in the field without a mentor of their own.

Measurable Outcomes:

• Record participation and engagement for the joint programme, as reported by Agenda for Change in October 2026.
• Mentees described the experience as life-changing. Mentors said they strengthened their coaching skills and grew their global networks.
• Several pairs are carrying on their mentoring relationships now that the programme has ended.

Testimonials:

Vivian Victor Kamagenge, Community Health Manager, Water For Good, Tanzania

“Mentorship is one of the best investments you can make in yourself. The knowledge, connections and confidence you gain will stay with you long after the program ends.”

Charity Mokweri, Water Sector Trust Fund, Kenya

“The Women in Wash program is different; it is specifically tailored to women water professionals. With this, you get personalised mentorship, something I was looking for, and you get to meet women in the water sector and learn from what they are doing, and also what is new.”

Abena Nyarko Frimpong, Learning and Development Officer, Saha Global, Ghana

“Good mentorship is not about someone giving you all the answers. It is about having someone who helps you ask better questions, see possibilities you may not have considered, challenge your assumptions, and take ownership of your growth.”

Neema Mbwambo, Project Coordinator, Strong Women Strong World, Tanzania

“My mentor helped me see that growth often begins when we stop waiting for permission and start believing in our own potential.”

More Information:

Read 29 stories from Women in WASH and RWSN mentors and mentees in our community stories.