The Washing Machine Project

Navjot Sawhney, The Washing Machine Project

The inaugural Nichols Award was won by The Washing Machine Project, a humanitarian project. They were awarded £20,000 of prize money to enable inspirational growth, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit for years to come. 

Based in the UK, The Washing Machine Project is a social enterprise working to end the burden of hand washing clothes, a daily challenge faced by up to 50% of the global population. The Project provides displaced and low-income communities with an accessible, off-grid washing solution. Empowering women with the time to take charge of their lives and unburdening families worldwide from this issue that disproportionately affects the well-being and livelihood of women and girls.

Commenting on the success of The Washing Machine Project, Kathryn and Frances Nichols, owners of Nichols, said “At Nichols, we believe in creativity to inspire and change the world. We’re delighted to award innovative changemaker, The Washing Machine Project, with this new Award. The Project champions positive change across the world, and provides an innovative solution for thousands of families worldwide.”

Since winning The Nichols Award in 2022, the Washing Machine Project has gone from strength to strength, refining the design and manufacture of its manual washing machines and distributing them worldwide. As of June 2026, hundreds of machines have been distributed to households and communities, positively impacting 105,000 people.  

Our 2022 Finalists

  • Anti Racist Cumbria

    Formed with the aim of making Cumbria the UK’s first actively anti-racist county, Anti Racist Cumbria’s approach is based around impacting leadership, transforming education, communications and campaigning and growing grassroots. The group help identify and dismantle racism and embed anti-racism into the structures of the county whilst educating and engaging predominantly white communities with anti-racism and uplifting the experiences, contributions and voices of black and brown communities.

  • Barbara Brighouse

    Barbara has dedicated her career to providing water, sanitation and health education to poor rural communities in East Africa. Through her work delivering projects in Tanzania as part of Christian Engineers in Development, she has helped transform the lives of over 50,000 people. As a result of this work, children have the time to attend school rather than spending up to five hours a day fetching water, teachers are prepared to move into those communities, clinics get built and the general health of the population improves - leading to innovation, entrepreneurship and industry.

  • Panathlon Foundation

    A national charity which gives thousands of young people with disabilities and special educational needs the opportunity to take part in competitive sport. The Panathlon Foundation provide multisport, swimming, boccia, football, ten-pin bowling and a range of impairment-specific programmes which take place across 41 English counties and Wales. In a survey of service users, 81% of schools said Panathlon had enabled children’s first ever experience of competitive sport.

  • Willowdene Rehabilitation

    Based in the heart of West Mercia, Willowdene provides an opportunity for lasting life transformation through a proven approach to rehabilitation, that includes trauma-informed therapy, training, work-experience and resettlement. With programmes that cut across criminal justice, public health and women’s services, at the heart of Willowdene’s mission is a commitment to ensure that students have access to interventions that will enable them to step into the life they were made for.