Sauti Plus has won the Best Not-for-profit Campaign at the 9th the Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU) Excellence Awards 2025 for its drowning-prevention campaign, "Omanyi Okuwuga".
PRAU presented the award during the ceremony held on December 4, 2025, at Protea Hotel in Kampala. The association said the award highlights the effective use of marketing and communication to address socio-economic challenges in Uganda.
Omanyi Okuwuga is a two-year social marketing and behavioural-change initiative implemented by Sauti Plus in partnership with Reach A Hand Uganda and other partners.
It targets high-risk districts such as Mayuge, Masaka and Rakai, where drowning incidents remain common due to limited awareness and unsafe practices.
The campaign encourages people to treat swimming as a core life skill and to consistently follow water-safety precautions, including wearing life jackets, avoiding overloaded boats and adopting safer behaviour around water bodies.
To reach communities widely, the initiative employs both traditional and digital media platforms across the country.
It also conducts community and school outreaches to increase access to water-safety information and provides swimming lessons focused on survival skills.
Beyond public sensitisation, Omanyi Okuwuga advocates for stronger policy action, including integrating swimming lessons into the national school curriculum, enhancing enforcement of water-safety regulations, improving emergency response mechanisms and strengthening water-transport infrastructure.
Although the latest Uganda Police annual crime report shows a slight decline in drowning cases in 2024, it maintains that drowning remains the leading water-related cause of death in Uganda.
A study by the Makerere University School of Public Health recorded more than 1,435 fatal and non-fatal drowning cases across over 60 districts between January 2016 and June 2018, underscoring the scale of the problem the campaign seeks to address.
