My story

In the beginning of 2021 – right in the middle of another COVID 19 lock down – WaterAid UK approached me to use my expertise and experiences in human resource capacity assessments again. It had been a few years since I had been able to dive into this content at work, but I had always tried to stay as engaged as possible in that area of the water and sanitation sector.

For me it was (and is) THE most important part in solving the world’s water and sanitation challenges. Why? Even to raise sufficient finances, or develop reforms/ policies, or change governance structure, requires people with the right knowledge, skills and abilities.

Being able to work on this topic, and with WaterAid, convinced me to register as an independent consultant. I started the first assignment working to develop a methodological framework to understand HR Capacity in the sector at large. This led to a few other projects with WaterAid to develop a framework for understanding the capacity needs in regulators and in Water Operator Partnerships (WOPs), towards reviewing their methods for capacity development for their own staff using appreciative enquiry.

Subsequently I was approached by

• Tetra Tech to lead a sanitation and hygiene capacity needs assessment under the USAID Water Sanitation and Hygiene Partnership and Learning for Sustainability (WASHPaLS) #2 project
• The Flood Community of Practice and Queensland Water Modelling network  – to design and facilitate knowledge exchange dialogues between Dutch and Australian water professionals
• Global Water Center to develop and analyse a rural water capacity needs survey 
• WaterAid to facilitate an internal meeting to kickstart the recommendations by their capacity development review
• WaterAid to develop a knowledge menu and set of templates for knowledge products
• And on the side, I was on the advisory board for ESAWAS (East and Southern African Water Regulator Association) project to develop the landscape of African Regulation in WASH and reviewed the UNWATER GLAAS survey questions, as well as GLAAS 2022 report on the issue of Human Resources.

In all of these assignments I have been able to fulfil my passion; connecting people, knowledge and expertise to stimulate change. I am keen to expand my services to organizations beyond the water, sanitation and hygiene sector to include organizations that work on sustainability, circular economy and corporate sustainability and focus on the facilitation of dialogues that is required in both capacity needs assessments, organisational change, in partnerships and in projects.