Professional info
I am a Civil Engineer with a Masters in Environmental Engineering (Public Health Engineering) and a Doctorate of Letters for Services to Social Justice (CEng, MICE, C.WEM, FCIWEM) who has worked over a 30 year period, mostly in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in development, humanitarian and transitional contexts in Africa, Asia and elsewhere.
Following incidences of violence against women who were involved in technical projects during my first overseas assignment (1991-93) in the townships of Lusaka Zambia, I became increasingly interested in the linkages between people and technical projects and also in the need for training technical staff, like myself, in social related issues such as gender. Having a long-standing passion for working together with people who are marginalised from society, I have appreciated having the opportunities to increasingly combine my engineering and technical work with my interests in equality and non-discrimination (including working together with people who are most disadvantaged).
I would describe myself as a WASH generalist who works across the development-humanitarian divide with a particular interest in transitional or fragile contexts. I have undertaken work for international NGOs, the United Nations, universities, donors and the private sector and have supported local NGO and governmental partners and have worked in programme implementation, programme management, research, strategy development, partnership building, capacity development and training. I am passionate about collaboration and respecting and utilising the skills and strengths of people and organisations of different backgrounds and mandates to reach mutually agreed goals; and also about translating policy to practice through applied research, learning and capacity development.
Country experience
Afghanistan
Andaman & Nicobar Islands (India)
Azerbaijan
Cambodia
Colombia
Croatia
Ethiopia
Ghana
Guyana
Kenya
Lebanon
Lao PDR
Liberia
Malawi
Nepal
Nigeria
Pakistan
Republic of Sudan
Sierra Leone
St Lucia
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Uganda
UK
Zambia
Zaire
Zimbabwe