WaterAid chief executive Barbara Frost was honoured with the Daniel Phelan Award for Outstanding Achievement at last night’s Charity Awards.
Frost, whose 23-year career in international development began with a four-year stint in Mozambique in the 1980s, accepted the award from Labour life peer Baroness Jill Pitkeathley and Cathy Phelan, wife of the late Daniel Phelan whom the award was named after.
Reading the citation about Frost, Pitkeathley said: “Under Barbara's leadership, WaterAid has just launched an ambitious new five-year strategy that aims to ensure that universal access to safe water and sanitation is included in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the overarching aim of which is to eradicate extreme poverty worldwide by 2030. She is a consummate campaigner and a hugely popular figure both among her own colleagues and in the wider sector, not least because she only ever seeks profile for her organisation and the issues it is trying to progress – never for herself."
Accepting the trophy before an audience of 600 sector peers, Parliamentarians and celebrities, Frost said: “I am incredibly honoured and wonderfully surprised to be chosen for this first Daniel Phelan award. I had a strong sense of imposter syndrome when Andrew Hind told me of the panel’s decision. What, me? Surely not.
“However I am of course absolutely delighted.
“All of us here tonight are incredibly lucky to be working in our sector that is all about making the world a better place, tackling injustice, improving lives, and looking after our planet.
“I am so inspired by the great work we have heard about tonight and delighted to be celebrating the achievements of civil society.”
She went to focus her address on three themes: The value of learning from each other; the value of vision - believing change can happen, and the value of doing what we believe in and taking risks.
“I learnt early on that if you expect great things, are positive and encouraging, magic can indeed happen," she said.
She said she learned a great deal from the disability activists she worked with at Action on Disability and Development, and then moved onto the work of her current employer, WaterAid.
“Thirty-five years ago the UK water industry established WaterAid with a vision to transform the lives of poor and marginalised communities in some of the poorest countries in the world - helping them to get safe water to drink and to improve sanitation - fundamental to overcoming poverty.
“Today together we are campaigning for everyone everywhere to have access to these basic services by 2030.
“I know many of you have a big vision to change the world. That really is our job!
“And finally my third theme - of doing what we believe in and taking risks. Young colleagues often ask me about their careers. My advice is go where your heart is, where you will thrive, stretch yourselves and take risks.
“Nearly three decades ago when I took the risk and left my comfortable job in Sydney, Australia and headed for war-torn Mozambique little did I expect to be standing here today. I followed my heart. I took some scary risks.
And despite the years in between I really do leap out of bed every day thinking how lucky I am to be working in our sector with such passionate and innovative teams, committed supporters and volunteers.
“So…let’s continue to learn from each other, be visionary, and make change happen.”
Frost’s development career took her to Mozambique and Malawi with Community Aid Abroad (now Oxfam Australia), ActionAid and Save the Children before she returned to the UK as chief executive of Action on Disability and Development. Nine years after that she was appointed chief executive of WaterAid and will notch up ten years there in September.
Daniel Phelan founded The Charity Awards in 2000 and this year was the first Awards since he died in February. The organisers at Civil Society Media decided to change the name of the Outstanding Achievement Award from this year on, to honour his memory.
