HRRG honours GAMA-SWP boss for sanitation leadership, citing 2023 intervention for teenage girl

Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG) has presented the HRRG Global RightsShield Award for Sanitation & Sustainable Cities Leadership to Ing. Dr. George Asiedu, Coordinator of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project (GAMA-SWP), in recognition of his leadership and contribution to sanitation, water access, public health, community resilience, and sustainable urban development in Ghana.

The award was formally presented to Ing. Dr. Asiedu at his office in Accra on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, following the inaugural presentation of the HRRG Global RightsShield Awards in Abuja, Nigeria.

Ing. Dr. Asiedu is among the inaugural honourees of the HRRG Global RightsShield Awards and received the Sanitation & Sustainable Cities Leadership Award under Category 2 of the 2026 honours programme.

The awards were presented under the theme “Championing Human Rights and Democratic Renewal” during the 3rd Africa High-Level Civil Society Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Conference, held at the Abuja Continental Hotel in Abuja, Nigeria, from July 14–17, 2026.

Other inaugural honourees included H.E. John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana; H.E. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Prof. Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, Kenyan Legal Scholar, Orator, and Pan-Africanist; Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Ghana; Ms. Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, Executive Director of Spaces for Change West Africa; Joshua Elikplim Adjei, Emerging Human Rights Leader & Youth Advocate; Eminence Lead International LBG, Ghana-Based Non-Profit Organisation and international digital rights organization, Access Now and its RightsCon Global Team.

From a journalist’s report to a life-changing intervention

A significant factor behind HRRG’s decision to honour Ing. Dr. Asiedu was his response to a 2023 report by HRRG Executive Director and human rights journalist Dr. Joseph Kobla Wemakor about a teenage girl and her family who were living without a toilet facility at their home in Gbegbeyise in the Greater Accra Region.

In June 2023, Dr. Wemakor published an investigative report titled “Living without a toilet at home: The traumatic tale of a 15-year-old typhoid fever patient,” drawing attention to the girl’s sanitation crisis and the health and human-dignity implications of the family’s circumstances.

The report was published by GhanaWeb and subsequently attracted public attention, with the story also republished by other media platforms.

The publication later came to the attention of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project (GAMA-SWP). Ing. Dr. Asiedu and his team recognised the family’s circumstances as requiring intervention, and the project subsequently mobilised to address the sanitation challenge.

The intervention ultimately resulted in the provision of a toilet facility for the teenage girl and her family, transforming a situation of severe sanitation deprivation into a tangible improvement in their living conditions.

HRRG said the intervention demonstrated the potential of public-interest journalism to move beyond reporting social problems and help catalyse institutional action that produces practical outcomes for vulnerable people.

The organisation said documentary records relating to the 2023 report and subsequent intervention informed its decision to recognise Ing. Dr. Asiedu for the contribution.

Wemakor: “You did not just build a toilet; you helped restore dignity.”

Speaking during the presentation of the award, Dr. Joseph Kobla Wemakor commended Ing. Dr. Asiedu for responding to the plight of the teenage girl and her family after the publication brought their circumstances to public attention.

“Ing. Dr. George Asiedu, I want to sincerely commend you for what you did in 2023 when you came across our report on the plight of that 15-year-old girl battling typhoid and living with her family without a toilet facility.

You did not simply read the story and move on. You saw a vulnerable family in distress and recognised that there was something within your mandate that you could do to change their situation. You acted, and that action made a real difference.”

Dr. Wemakor described the intervention as one of the most rewarding examples of journalism producing a real-world impact.

“For me, that intervention remains one of the most rewarding moments in my journey as a human rights journalist. I have written many stories, but there is something fundamentally different when a story does not end with publication—when it moves from the pages of a newspaper into action and ultimately changes the living conditions of a vulnerable family.”

He said the intervention was central to HRRG’s decision to recognise Ing. Dr. Asiedu with the Sanitation & Sustainable Cities Leadership Award.

“You did not just build a toilet. You helped restore dignity. You helped reduce a health risk. You gave that family something many of us take for granted—the basic right to live in a safe and dignified environment.

That is why this recognition is deeply deserved.”

Dr. Wemakor further noted that the episode demonstrated the importance of collaboration between the media, civil society, and public institutions.

“The story of that young girl reminds us that journalists, civil society organisations and public institutions do not have to work in isolation. When journalism identifies a problem, when institutions are willing to listen, and when leaders are prepared to act, extraordinary things can happen. Your response showed us what is possible when those forces come together.”

Leadership beyond professional credentials

HRRG said its decision to honour Ing. Dr. Asiedu was based not only on his professional credentials but also on the tangible human impact associated with his leadership, particularly within the sanitation and water sector.

As Coordinator of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project, Ing. Dr. Asiedu has played an important role in initiatives focused on water supply, sanitation, hygiene, behavioural change and community resilience across urban and peri-urban communities.

His professional career spans more than three decades of engineering and development experience.

He holds an Executive Master’s in Business Administration and is a globally certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

GAMA-SWP has also been associated with notable recognitions for its development and engineering interventions, including the “Most Impactful WASH Project of the Decade” recognition by CONIWAS, an Engineering Excellence Award from the Ghana Institution of Engineering, and recognition as 2nd Runner-Up Project Manager of the Year by the Ghana Chapter of the Project Management Institute.

HRRG said these professional achievements, together with the documented 2023 sanitation intervention, demonstrate the breadth of Ing. Dr. George Asiedu’s contribution to the WASH and sustainable development sector.

Sanitation as a human rights issue

The award also reflects HRRG’s broader conviction that access to safe water, adequate sanitation, and a healthy living environment are closely linked to human dignity and fundamental rights.

The 2023 intervention involving the teenage typhoid patient provides a practical illustration of this principle.

A sanitation challenge that could easily have remained an invisible hardship became a matter of public concern after the journalist’s report brought the family’s situation to wider attention.

Institutional action subsequently followed, resulting in the provision of a toilet facility for the family.

For HRRG, the episode represents the kind of responsive leadership that the Global RightsShield Awards seek to celebrate — leadership that goes beyond occupying an institutional position to producing meaningful outcomes for people and communities.

The organisation said the case also demonstrates the value of collaboration between journalists, civil society organisations and public institutions in identifying and addressing challenges affecting vulnerable communities.

HRRG Global RightsShield Awards

The HRRG Global RightsShield Awards were inaugurated in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2026 and seek to recognise exceptional individuals and institutions whose leadership, service, and achievements contribute meaningfully to human rights, democratic governance, justice, civic freedoms, diplomacy, sustainable development, and human dignity across Africa and beyond.

The inaugural edition was initially launched under the name HRRG Global RightsCon Awards before being rebranded as the HRRG Global RightsShield Awards as part of HRRG’s efforts to establish a stronger and independent identity for the international honours programme.

The 2026 awards were presented under the theme “Championing Human Rights and Democratic Renewal.”

HRRG said the recognition of Ing. Dr. Asiedu reflects the programme’s commitment to celebrating leaders whose professional responsibilities translate into tangible improvements in people’s lives and communities.

About Human Rights Reporters Ghana

Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG) is a globally recognized human rights and media-focused civil society organisation committed to advancing human dignity, social justice, democratic accountability, civic participation, and sustainable development through advocacy, journalism, research, capacity building, and strategic partnerships in Ghana, across Africa, and beyond.

Through the HRRG Global RightsShield Awards, HRRG seeks to build an international platform for recognising exceptional leadership, service, and transformative contributions to humanity.

The recognition of Ing. Dr. George Asiedu underscores the organisation’s belief that meaningful leadership is ultimately measured not only by professional achievements but also by the positive difference such leadership makes in people’s lives.