Efficient and equitable service delivery for urban water supply and sanitation

Dr. Meera Mehta is Executive Director for the Center for Water and Sanitation at CRDF, CEPT University. She is Professor Emeritus at CEPT University and has over 45 years of experience in water, urban development and infrastructure finance. She served as the Director of School of Planning at the University in 1992, before joining the USAID’s FIRE-D Project in India, and later the World Bank and its Water and Sanitation Program in Africa. She has consulted widely for national and international agencies including UNICEF, World Bank, ADB, WaterAid, HIC, Government of Netherlands. She studied Architecture at under-graduate level and city and regional planning at post-graduate level. She has a doctoral degree in economics.

Jaladhi Vavaliya works on the performance measurement and monitoring aspects of urban water supply and sanitation. She coordinates online data collection, analysis, and reporting of performance assessment of urban water supply and sanitation services in cities for the project. She has conducted various capacity building trainings for service level benchmarking (SLB) in India and was involved in various technical studies on non-revenue water. She studied Bachelor's in Environmental Engineering and Master's in Planning specialized in Environmental Planning.

Dr. Jiménez leads the Water and Sanitation department at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), Sweden. He is also the Program Director for Content Development on Water governance for the organization. Alejandro leads the coordination of UNDP global programme, GoAL WASH, and directs the Accountability for Sustainability programme – a UNICEF partnership.  He has over 15 years of experience working with water governance issues around the world. He has published several articles and book chapters, especially in regard to water and sanitation governance, WASH indicators, and the implementation of the human right to water and sanitation.

Jayant Bhagwan, is the Executive Manager of the key strategic area of Water Use and Waste Management at the South African Water Research Commission, which focuses on the management of water and wastewater in the Domestic, Mining and Industrial sector. He completed his Masters Degree in Tropical Public Health Engineering from Leeds University, UK. With his knowledge and experienced gained in implementation of water and sanitation projects, he has played and participated in the shaping of national water policy and legislation. He held the posts of the President of the Water Institute of Southern Africa, Chairperson of the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Water Advisory Committee, as well as international advisory positions with the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, IWA- Global Development Agency and UNEP.

Dr. Helena Alegre is a Senior Research Officer and Director of the Hydraulics and Environment Department of LNEC, in Portugal. She is a member of IWA’s Strategic Council, heads the IWA Strategic Asset Management Specialist Group, and was IWA Senior Vice-President (2010-2012) and Board Member (1999-2001; 2010-2012). She leads the production of the IWA performance assessment systems and corresponding manuals. She has or had leading roles in +50 international and national projects on urban water systems, mainly related to performance assessment, water losses & energy management, and infrastructure asset management. She has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering.

Ruchika leads IRC work in India for the past 6 years, focusing on water and sanitation services, both in rural and urban areas. She has been involved in assessments, research projects, capacity building programmes, technical assistance in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector with IRC. She holds a master’s degree in social work (MSW) from Delhi University and has over 17 years of work experience as a social development professional on different development issues in urban and rural contexts. Her experience varies from grassroots involvement at the beginning of her career, to managing development programmes and partners focussing on child rights, and then to understanding and working on and with the systems that are to deliver basic services of water and sanitation, especially for those from marginalized communities.

Dr. Dinesh Mehta is executive director for the Center for Water and Sanitation at CEPT University’s Research and Development Foundation (CRDF). He has over four decades of experience in urban policy, urban planning and management, in Asia and Africa. He was the Director of School of Planning at CEPT University in Ahmedabad from 1984 to 1992, and later the Director of the National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi, India from 1992-1997. He also served as the global head of Urban Management Programme at UN- HABITAT in Nairobi from 2000 to 2006. He has a Ph.D. from University of Pennsylvania, a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering, from IIT Madras, India.