{"id":8813,"date":"2025-02-20T17:35:40","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T17:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/?p=8813"},"modified":"2026-01-19T20:59:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T20:59:51","slug":"ugandas-team-safisha-wins-prestigious-afrinnovate-youth-challenge-for-groundbreaking-water-purification-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/ugandas-team-safisha-wins-prestigious-afrinnovate-youth-challenge-for-groundbreaking-water-purification-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Uganda\u2019s Team Safisha Wins Prestigious Afrinnovate Youth Challenge for Groundbreaking Water Purification Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JA) Africa, in partnership with the Z Zurich Foundation, successfully hosted the second edition of the Afrinnovate Youth Challenge (AYC). This competition is the culmination of the Social Equity Program (SEP) and showcases youth-led social enterprises from across Africa. Seven teams representing Burkina Faso, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, DR Congo, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda competed for $5,000 in seed funding to scale their solutions addressing critical social challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For the second consecutive year, a team from Uganda claimed the grand prize, with Team Safisha emerging as the winner for their innovative, portable, solar-powered water purifier. Their project tackles Uganda\u2019s pressing water crisis, where over 70% of the population lacks access to clean drinking water. By providing a sustainable, cost-effective alternative to traditional purification methods, Safisha Water Purifiers is transforming access to safe water in underserved communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The competition brought together a distinguished panel of judges, including Dirk Gawronska, Digital Transformation Lead at Z Zurich Foundation; Ayanda Blossom Nyikana, CEO of APARA Global; Pape Samb, General Administrator of Senegal; and Arame Gueye S\u00e8ne, Co-founder and Executive Director of Social Change Factory. Keynote speaker Fred Swaniker, founder of the African Leadership Group, delivered an inspiring address on entrepreneurship and innovation, capturing the imagination of the young entrepreneurs. Other notable speakers included Adriana Poglia, Head of Enabling Social Equity at Z Zurich Foundation, and Simi Nwogugu, CEO of JA Africa. The awards were presented by Laura Castellano of Zurich Insurance, Ana Martiningui of JA Worldwide, and Mujeni Aseli of JA Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Afrinnovate Youth Challenge continues to be a beacon for young innovators tackling Africa\u2019s pressing social and economic issues. With the continued support of Z Zurich Foundation, JA Africa remains committed to empowering the next generation of changemakers, equipping them with the skills, mentorship, and resources needed to drive meaningful impact across the continent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JA) Africa, in partnership with the Z Zurich Foundation, successfully hosted the second edition of the Afrinnovate Youth Challenge (AYC). This competition is the culmination of the Social Equity Program (SEP) and showcases youth-led social enterprises from across Africa. Seven teams representing Burkina Faso, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, DR Congo, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda competed …<\/p>\n

Uganda\u2019s Team Safisha Wins Prestigious Afrinnovate Youth Challenge for Groundbreaking Water Purification Project<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":{"featured_alumni_video":"","year":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Copy-of-Safisha-Team-Photo-1-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8813"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10357,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8813\/revisions\/10357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.ja-africa.org\/backend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}