Speakers

Ms Gichuri had a stellar career with the World Bank and the African Development Bank; her last post being Acting Vice-President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development. She joined the Supervisory Board in 2021 as IRC continues to shift executive and management functions to its Focus Countries in preparation for the creation of a new Global South-oriented, networked organisation in 2025. Her appointment will also bring Ms Gichuri's experience to strategically support IRC's continued investment in systems strengthening and to champion high-level political advocacy of water and sanitation.

The world's first Water Ambassador, Henk Ovink works across the world initiating innovative approaches to address our biggest challenges. He is Sherpa for the UN 2023 Water Conference and leads the government of the Netherlands as co-host of the conference. He's Principal of 'Rebuild by Design' and served on President Obama's Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force.

An impressive CV which includes Global Policy Advisor for the United Nations Development Programme, and work with the United Nations Capital Development Fund, Netherlands Development Organisation and many others.

Shomy is an award-winning Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) activist from Bangladesh. She is a development professional with 10+ years of experience in social service. Shomy co-founded the global non-profit Awareness 360, through which she empowers young people across 30+ countries in advancing the UN Global Goals. For her outstanding social impact, she made it to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List and was spotlighted as a Featured Honoree.

Eng. Eyatu is a passionate senior water systems expert by training and practise. Presently serving as the Commissioner of Rural Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Water and Environment, Uganda, Eyatu has over 30 years of experience in developing, policy making, planning, and managing WASH systems especially for small towns and rural areas. He is a lead negotiator for Uganda on Climate Change Adaptation, and has been actively involved in regional water and sanitation activities in the Nile Basin. Eyatu is a sportsman who has represented Uganda as the national volleyball captain, and a farmer who is growing trees.  

A passionate advocate for pro-poor Universal Health Coverage, Githinji leads the largest Africa-led international organisation, reaching more than 11 million people each year through 150 projects across 35 countries.

A Public Health Physician Specialist with emphasis on Health Policy and Systems Management, Mary previously worked as a Medical Director of a district-type hospital in Ghana. She has experience implementing national and international maternal and child health flagship programs. She serves on Ghana's National Quality Steering Committee as the Ghana Health Service Representative, as the General Secretary for the Ghana Public Health Association and as a Representative for the Harvard University's Planetary Health Alliance.

Joel coordinates The Bank’s efforts to secure private financing to meet the enormous financing gap in the sector.  He works with numerous clients across the globe to facilitate technical and financial efficiencies and improved institutional and regulatory improvements to facilitate credit worthiness.  He brings more than 35 years of experience in dealing with a host of issues related to infrastructure finance across multiple sectors. 

Leads programmes on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and sustainable energy.  In addition to managing a portfolio of grants and impact investments, Louis works to advance these sectors through wide-scale systems change. From 2005-2013, Louis founded and led the WASH programme at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, building a cross-disciplinary team and a grant portfolio of more than US$ 400 million.

Robert Bos is the former Coordinator of the Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health Unit in the World Health Organization (WHO). In this function, he headed WHO's efforts in normative water quality work and in monitoring access to drinking-water and sanitation. In February 2013 he completed his 32 year service as a Public Health Biologist with WHO and he now is an independent consultant in public health, water and environment, based in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Amaka, who is based in Nairobi, is a specialist in the field of Sanitation, Hygiene and Water Supply with over 27 years of experience including in policy, research and programming. Having worked in more than ten countries, she combines a strong technical knowledge with a vast experience of working in rural and urban areas. Before joining WaterAid, Dr Godfrey led the development of the African Sanitation Policy Guidelines (ASPG) for the African Ministers Council on Water.

Barbara has over 20 years’ experience in water management in developing countries, with a focus on good governance and addressing poverty, inequality, gender and other forms of social and economic marginalisation. Previously Executive Director of the Pegasys Institute, a not-for-profit organisation working to find African solutions to African challenges in water and infrastructure management. She has worked as a consultant and in senior management in the public sector in South Africa, including as Ministerial advisor. She has been active on a number of Boards and is currently a member of the Advisory Committee to the Minister of Water and Sanitation in South Africa.

An effective human rights, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution professional with over 10 years of fieldwork experience in Latin America, and proven skills in successful people management, impactful policy advocacy, and accurate documentation and analysis of complex political and humanitarian situations.

Bethlehem is a long-time global WASH advocate with a passion for building collaboration, partnerships, and systems approaches that will collectively enable the achievement of SDG 6. She comes to Agenda for Change with more than 17 years of experience in the development sector and deep knowledge of African policy, spanning the areas of WASH, nutrition, gender equality, and education. Through previous roles with WaterAid, Bethlehem has been involved in Agenda for Change since the collaboration was founded.

Kate is an influential international development professional with 20 years of experience in the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector with a proven record of scaling district wide initiatives and transforming social economic systems to achieve sustainable development goals. Kate has an extensive network of actors with whom she has collaborated during her career and is uniquely capable of forming and strengthening relationships with non-governmental organizations, the private sector, donor organizations, and government institutions at various levels.

Muyatwa Sitali is a development policy specialist who has worked for UNICEF, World Bank, Oxfam and the Jubilee-Zambia. He draws his experience from multiple sectors and countries including Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, United States, Switzerland, and Zambia. Currently he is the Head of Country and Partner Engagement for the UN hosted Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) Partnership where he is involved in mobilizing political, policy and programmatic support for water, sanitation and hygiene in almost 80 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Sitali has more than 15 years of experience in development finance, multi-stakeholder partnerships, peace and development, and the connections between humanitarian and development programming.