Friday 14 August 2026

It is with profound sadness that we share the news that our much-loved friend and colleague, Ralph Weir died on 12 August in a mountaineering accident in Uganda.

Ralph was a brilliant young man who in his two years in BHC Kampala had a disproportionate impact on our delivery, culture, and on our hearts. From his first interview for the role to his last big tasks in BHC Kampala - organising a ministerial visit and writing the closure report for a programme - his passion for development work, his kindness and his intelligence shone through. Outside work he was a keen runner, cyclist, boxer, hiker, salsa dancer and a striking linguist. He picked up several local languages which enabled him to engage more closely with our Ugandan hosts and their culture, to charm and amuse CBS staff and G4S guards and even the local military.

Ralph had shaped a career around the causes he cared about. After exceptional success at Oxford he took six months off to cycle from Cairo to Cape Town with two friends, raising many thousands of dollars for the fight against malaria. He then became a talented civil servant who rose rapidly through the Ministry of Justice, Defra, and FCDO, working on forestry, private sector development, international finance, agriculture, and climate issues in the UK, Uganda, and across the world. At the time of his death, he was about to move to Nepal again in a development role. He believed passionately in the developed world's duty to provide aid and assistance in less fortunate places.

It is impossible to capture in words here the joy which Ralph brought to the FCDO and his friends in the international community. He was much loved for his positive, can-do attitude, his appetite for local languages, his action trackers, and above all for his kindness, recently supporting colleagues through restructures and job applications. He will be sorely missed across BHC Kampala and there will be opportunities to celebrate his life, everything he was passionate about and the mark he has left on us all.

Ralph's family have shared how much he loved his job, the people he worked with and met across Uganda and indeed in his other postings. They know Ralph died in a place he loved, whilst with someone he loved, doing something he loved, and join us in hoping those are some comfort.

Out of respect for Ralph's family's wishes we are asking staff not to post this news on social media, whilst they are still informing relatives and friends. The family does not wish any flowers to be sent.

Messages of condolence, and your happy, funny, or professional memories of Ralph can be sent to Kampala.BHCinfo and these will then be collated and shared with Ralph's family.