First Advisory Committee meeting held for CWAS

An Advisory Committee has been formed to provide guidance to CWAS for achieving its strategic goals of being a leader in transforming governance and monitoring systems for safe and equitable water and sanitation services at scale. The Committee will meet at least twice a year virtually or in-person to discuss activities carried out by CWAS and to provide advice on its existing and future plans. The first meeting was held on the 29^th of July 2021 and was attended by all committee members as well as teams from CWAS and CRDF.

During the meeting, the committee members were apprised of the range of activities carried out by CWAS and a key point of discussion at the meeting was to explore potential avenues of engagement. The esteemed group of experts on the committee consist of Prof. Barbara Evans, Prof. Kalanithy Vairavamoorthy, Dr. Ramanath Jha, Dr. Tushar Shah and Ms. Vedika Bhandarkar. The committee is expected to discuss activities carried out by CWAS and advice on its future plans.

CWAS Advisory Committee Members

Prof. Barbara Evans: Professor Barbara Evans holds the chair in Public Health Engineering in the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds. Her work is centred on the delivery of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 6, with a particular focus on resilient and equitable sanitation services. She is also Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Water and Waste Infrastructure and Services Engineered for Resilience. She is a chartered engineer with a second degree in Development Studies.

Dr. Ramanath Jha: Dr. Ramanath Jha belongs to the 1977 batch of the IAS (Indian Administrative Services). Dr Jha has held key leadership positions at city and state government offices. He is the chairperson for Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC), Mumbai Commission for Art, Culture and Music (MCAMC) and advisor for Mumbai Parking Authority (MPA), Director General, MCGM’s Centre for Capacity Building & Research (MCMCR).

Dr. Tushaar Shah: Dr. Tushaar Shah, an economist, water-energy policy researcher and public policy specialist, is an Emeritus Scientist of the International Water Management Institute, Colombo and former director and now Professor Emeritus of the Institute of Rural Management Anand. His main research interests have been in water institutions and policies in South Asia. His notable contributions have been in comparative analyses of groundwater governance in South Asia, China and Mexico.

Prof. Kalanithy Vairavamoorthy: Kala Vairavamoorthy is an internationally recognized water resource management expert, with a particular interest in urban water issues. He combines a strong engineering background with practical international experience. He has published extensively and has a strong international profile working closely with the World Bank, UN-Habitat, UNESCO, GWP, SIWI, ADB and the EU.

Ms Vedika Bhandarkar: As a Chief Operating Officer at Water.org she oversees all impact efforts within Water.org. She leads the team responsible for working with financial institutions, global investors, and other sector leaders to empower millions of people in need with access to safe water and sanitation. She previously served as Water.org’s Managing Director, India. She was Vice Chairman and Managing Director at Credit Suisse Securities (India) Private Limited. Vedika serves as an Independent Director on the boards of several companies.