Alumna Florence Grace Adongo from Uganda wins 2024 IHE Delft Alumni Award

Adongo is an accomplished professional in Water and Environmental Resources Management, with over 37 years of distinguished public service. As the Executive Director of the Nile Basin Initiative Secretariat (NileSEC), she has pioneered women’s participation in the field. NileSEC is an intergovernmental partnership of ten Nile Basin countries: Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. In October 2023, Adongo assumed her two-year tenure with “a vision to sustain a vibrant platform where all Basin countries can come together to share knowledge and experience, and engage in dialogue, fostering common solutions to shared challenges.” Under her leadership, the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) is undergoing a major transition, moving toward the establishment of the Nile River Basin Commission - a legal institution for Nile cooperation expected to be formalized in October 2024.

At this year’s Women in Water Diplomacy Global Network Forum in Vienna in March, Adongo was recognized by her peers for her role in cooperation in the Nile basin, and her commitment to building peace and stability in the Nile region. The award came as the NBI celebrates 25 years of existence, marking its impact in strengthening gender equality and equity in women's leadership.

From 2015 to 2023, Adongo served as the Director of Water Resources Management at the Ministry of Water and Environment in Uganda, becoming the first woman to hold this position. Here, she provided leadership, management and oversight to four Commissioners in charge of International and Transboundary Water Affairs, Water Resources Monitoring & Assessment, Water Quality Management, and Water Resources Planning & Regulation, as well as four major water management zones and a Water Resources Institute.

She played a key role in coordinating projects and programmes promoting Integrated Water Resources Management at regional, national and transboundary levels. Her work encompassed policy development, stakeholder engagement, water diplomacy and expert advisory roles on water-related projects, resource allocation and capacity development.

Prior to her role as Director of Water Resources Management, Adongo served as Commissioner for Water Resources Management for seven years. In this role, she supervised three Assistant Commissioners and was responsible for planning, budgeting, and reporting functions related to water quality at both national and transboundary levels. She also led the formulation and review of water resource policies, standards and guidelines and oversaw enforcement measures to monitor and control water quality and pollution levels in water bodies.

Throughout her career, she has provided technical advice, support supervision, and training to personnel in government, private sector actors, and stakeholders involved in water development and management. She also managed the operation of the National Water Quality Testing Reference Laboratory and the National Water Quality Database.

As a young scientist after earning her MSc from Delft in 1997, she began her career as a Chemist at the Kampala Capital City Authority and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation. Later, she became Assistant Commissioner for the Department of Water Resources Management.

Adongo graduated from IHE Delft in 1997 with an MSc in Water and Environmental Resources Management (WERM). As part of the award, she will visit IHE Delft in October-November to receive her award and deliver a seminar during the Opening of the Academic Year and Alumni Award Ceremony.

The IHE Delft Alumni Award recognizes individuals who have made a particularly remarkable impact in a water-related field and who are role models for water professionals. The annual award was launched in 2013 and since then, it has been awarded annually (with the exception 2020-21 due to COVID).