Making the Invisible Visible: The Role of Water Resources Management in Delivering Sustainable Water Services
USAID is pleased to invite you to a webinar where an all-woman panel will present a variety of approaches for integrating water resource management with water service delivery, and how these have succeeded in making the value of water resources visible and tangible. Climate change and population growth are placing increasing pressure on the water resources necessary to support healthy populations, economies, and ecosystems. Addressing these challenges to achieve water security requires a systems-wide vision that elevates and integrates water resource management with water service quality, quantity, and equity.
USAID’s water projects in Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines have been working with watershed actors at different levels to jointly assess the interconnectedness among built and natural assets, calculate climate risks and future demands, and co-create and implement integrated solutions for managing water resources. At the same time, these projects have been working with water service providers to enhance the efficiency of their operations to better serve poor and vulnerable populations, while managing water demand to conserve and maintain environmental services upon which sustainable water supply services rely.
Speakers and Moderators
Joanne Dulce, USAID Philippines
Joanne Dulce is a development professional with over 20 years of experience working in the water, climate change and energy sectors in the Philippines. Presently, she is a project management specialist and the WASH Lead for USAID/Philippines, managing projects that aim to improve water security and build climate resilience for vulnerable and underserved communities. She also serves as the Philippine Mission's Climate Finance Liaison for the U.S. Development Finance Corporation.
Prior to joining USAID, Joanne served as a director for the Ateneo de Manila University School of Government Climate Change Program, working on climate change and disaster risk reduction issues. She started her development career in energy projects that helped promote power sector reforms, as well as improve capacity for energy planning, regulation, and service delivery. Joanne holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of the Philippines and a masters degree in Public Management from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Government.
Nilu P. Basnyat, Chief of Party, USAID Karnali Water Activity
Nilu P. Basnyat, a Biological Resources Engineer, is an experienced program manager and technical specialist for governance and environmental water projects in Nepal with 24 years of experience in the development sector. Prior to joining the Karnali Water Activity, she was the Chief of Party for the USAID Paani program, where she provided technical and operational management to improve the sustainable management of water resources for multiple uses through climate change adaptation and conservation. She holds a B.S. in Biological Resources/Environmental and a master’s degree in Management Information Systems (MIS), both from the University of Maryland.
Ms. Alifah Lestari, Former Deputy Chief of Party, USAID IUWASH PLUS
Alifah Lestari has 20 years of experience in capacity building, training facilitation, and the implementation of participatory-based monitoring and evaluation techniques in Indonesia, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Cambodia. She has significant experience coordinating partnerships with governmental and non-governmental partners. She oversees the development of monitoring and evaluation systems, coordinating and managing USAID IUWASH PLUS regional teams with annual planning, budgeting and reporting of their field programs and achievements, serving as principal liaison with the GOI technical team, and overseeing the project’s adherence to gender requirements. She holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from the Esa Unggul University in Jakarta.
Alma Porciuncula, Chief of Party, USAID Philippines Safe Water
Alma Porciuncula has over 30 years of experience managing Water Supply and Sanitation Programs and PPP Programs involving urban infrastructure, including seven years as Chief of Party (COP) for the USAID Philippine Water Revolving Fund Project (PWRF) and Follow-on Program, and three years of the current Safe Water Project. Under her leadership, her projects developed an innovative blended financing scheme for water supply and sanitation projects, using ODA (JICA) and private commercial bank funds. She also led policy and institutional reform initiatives in the sector, such as championing proposed legislation for reforms in economic regulations to strengthen the enabling environment, as well as utility reforms. Under Safe Water she leads the preparation of water security plans that integrate water and sanitation service provision, sustainable water resource management and strengthening sector institutions and enabling policies. She has a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics and Master’s degree in Urban Planning, both from the University of the Philippines.