Catarina Fonseca is trained as an economist and has a doctoral degree in water sciences from Cranfield University. She has 20 years of experience in development cooperation and non-profits of which 17 have been in the water and sanitation sector.

For five years, Catarinawas the director of the WASHCost project, an initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has worked with countries to identify the long-term costs of sustaining rural and peri-urban water and sanitation services reliably for generations. Currently she is the programme director of Watershed empowering citizens, a strategic partnership between the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NGOs Simavi, Wetlands International, Akvo and IRC that will assess, develop and implement a suite of tools and approaches for building civil society organisations capacity for evidence-based lobbying and advocacy. Next to this Catarina is heading IRC's international and innovation programme.

In her programme work she focusses on the development and implementation of action-research programmes with a focus on the sustainability of WASH services. In her advisory work her strength is in financial data analysis and governance processes: financing the sector, value for money assessments, costing studies, poverty analysis and service level monitoring for water, sanitation and hygiene. Carrying out institutional and financial assessments at international, national and local level for delivering WASH services is at the core of her work. Catarina works for a range of clients from governments, to multilateral and bilateral agencies, foundations, development banks and other international organisations.

Catarina is a native Portuguese speaker and is fluent in English. She has a working knowledge of French and Spanish.

Catarina Fonseca is trained as an economist and has a doctoral degree in water sciences from Cranfield University. She has 20 years of experience in development cooperation and non-profits of which 17 have been in the water and sanitation sector.

For five years, Catarinawas the director of the WASHCost project, an initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has worked with countries to identify the long-term costs of sustaining rural and peri-urban water and sanitation services reliably for generations. Currently she is the programme director of Watershed empowering citizens, a strategic partnership between the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NGOs Simavi, Wetlands International, Akvo and IRC that will assess, develop and implement a suite of tools and approaches for building civil society organisations capacity for evidence-based lobbying and advocacy. Next to this Catarina is heading IRC's international and innovation programme.

In her programme work she focusses on the development and implementation of action-research programmes with a focus on the sustainability of WASH services. In her advisory work her strength is in financial data analysis and governance processes: financing the sector, value for money assessments, costing studies, poverty analysis and service level monitoring for water, sanitation and hygiene. Carrying out institutional and financial assessments at international, national and local level for delivering WASH services is at the core of her work. Catarina works for a range of clients from governments, to multilateral and bilateral agencies, foundations, development banks and other international organisations.

Catarina is a native Portuguese speaker and is fluent in English. She has a working knowledge of French and Spanish.

I have a passion for evidence and data in support of good governance but I agree that it's also a tough call

Catarina Fonseca