Women for Water Partnership Steering Committee
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Mariet Verhoef-Cohen President Women for Water Partnership ( WfWP), April 2014 – present President Soroptimist International (SI), August 2017 – December 2019 President Soroptimist International of Europe (SIE) 2007 – 2009 Vice-Chair WASAG, Global Framework on Water Scarcity in Agriculture, January 2021 – present Board member, HumanRights2Water – 2019 - present Representative World Water Council for WfWP; Representative UN Water for WfWP Founder and owner of Bacolet Translations BV (translation company) Supervisory Board member CATENT, 2014-2021; Officer in the Royal Order of Oranje Nassau of The Netherlands Knight in the National Order of the Republic of Madagascar Evolutionary Business Council Global Impact Award 2019 |
![]() Treasurer
Marjon Verkleij Member Vrouwen van Nu Treasurer Women for Water Partnership (WfWP) 1 July 2018 - present Honorary Secretary Women for Water Partnership 1 April 2015- 1 April 2021 Secretariat WfWP from 1 October 2019 – present Candidate for election Water Board Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland 15 March 2023 City counselor Alphen aan den Rijn from 2010 till 2022 Party leader of local political party CDA Alphen aan den Rijn from 2014-2022 Member of the local action group of Leader European, Subsidy Program for Rural Development Chair of the Foundation Molenviergang Aarlanderveen since May 2022 Board member of the Union of Farmer Cheese Makers since March 2023 Member of the Rotarian commission ‘Water and Youth’ Co-owner of an agricultural enterprise since 1994 (dairyfarm and farmer cheese factory) Member of the Royal Order of Orange Nassau of The Netherlands (appointed in March 2022) ![]() Honorary Secretary
Emma Anakhasyan Member of the Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment NGO/AWHHE Member of the Council of AWHHE (since 2002) Member of the board of the Rural Sustainable Development Agricultural Fund (since 2018) Member on behalf of AWHHE in the Armenian National Committee of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme, (since 2021) Member on behalf of AWHHE in the Regulatory Board of the Water User Associations (since 2020) Member on behalf of AWHHE in the Steering Committee of the EU Water Initiative (EUWI) National Policy Dialogue (NPD) (since 2007) Co-owner of Red House Hatis Guest House (since 2019) ![]() Advocacy
Lesha Witmer Member of BPWI and (chair) VAM foundation (Women and Labor Market); Delegate of WfWP to the World Water Council and Alliance for Water stewardship. Vice-president 2022-2024 IWRA; deputy chair World Water Quality Alliance SAC. (alternate) Delegate of WfWP to the UN: ECOSOC, CSW, UNEP/ UNEA, UNECE, UNESCO, HLPF SD (women major group), UN Water. (alternate) UN representative of Business & Professional Women International (incl. NGO Liaison committee). Co-facilitator European Pact for Water (2016-). Steering committee member of the Butterfly Effect NGO coalition; (former) Chair (2017-2021) of the Social Impacts, etc. chamber of the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Council and vice-chair of PCG. Past Chair of standing committee on Environment, Sustainable Development & Water of IFBPW; former Vice-president of International Secretariat for Water / Solidarity Water Europe; (former) member of the International Standard Development Committee for Water Stewardship. Independent senior consultant on water governance and gender- issues related to water. |
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Kusum Athukorala Currently senior advisor of the Sri Lanka Water Partnership and chair of NetWwater, member of the Coast Conservation Advisory Council Sri Lanka and the WATSAN Committee Sri Lanka, founding member and former SC member of WFWP, alternate delegate of WfWP to the World Water Council and Butterfly Effect, co-chair of UNESCO WWAP, founding member of Theme Leader Advocacy Crossing Boundaries Gender and Water in South Asia for SaciWATERS, and Advisor, consultant and resource person for a range of national and international organizations. Previously also Global Steering Committee member and South Asia Regional Committee member for Global Water Partnership Member, Chair of the Sri Lanka Water Partnership, Trustee of the National Community Water Trust, Sri Lanka and university teacher in languages and cultural studies, Co - coordinator Women s Prep Conferences for three World Water Fora for WFWP and coordinator and Presenter for WFWP at Stockholm Water Symposium and CSW. Recipient of the International Water Association’s International Women in Water Award and of the the Zonta Woman of Achievement for Environment Award. ![]() Member
Rose Mwangi Rose Makunzo Mwangi serves on the Board of Women for Water Partnership (WfWP) as a steering committee member and is a past Soroptimst International (SI) UN representative to UNEP. With her expertise, Rose has previously worked in the field of agriculture, environment and water both at policy and grassroot levels. She worked as a coordinator of a food security project that reached out and impacted over 500,000 venerable farmers in Kenya. Between 2015 and 2020 Rose also directed and implemented Safe Water and sanitation for Girls (SWAG) and Women, Water and Leadership (WWL), projects sponsored by WfWP and SI reaching to 75000 women, 10 schools with population of 5,075 girls and boys in XX counties in Kenya. These beneficiaries received training and kits on water and sanitation, water harvesting, food security and irrigation; and renewable energy. Rose is a mobilizer, motivator and practices what she preaches in ensuring water and food security for one more woman. ![]() Member
Ulla Madsen Steering Committee Member, WfWP 2019 Soroptimist International Europe (SIE) representative to WfWP 2017 -2019 Representative of the Danish Government Delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) New York 2018 – Representative of Europe: Europe-North America Caucus of Women, UN-NGO-CSW 2019 – Member of Soroptimist International Organizing Team CSW67 2023 Soroptimist International Ass. Director of Advocacy 2019-2021 and Advocacy Advisor 2022 Representative to the Soroptimist International Nordic Leadership Academy 2020 - Special consultant for SIE to Eastern Europe 2017- 2019 SIE President 2013-2015 SIE board member 2009 – 2017 SI board member 2011 – 2017 Founder and owner of Ulla Madsen Consulting - 2017 ![]() Dawn Fleming
Dawn leads innovation across Waterlution and currently leads partnerships, entrepreneurship mentoring and network building for Waterlution’s programmes in Brazil and Mozambique. An advocate for advancing female leadership in the water space, she is committed to creating opportunities for women and girls to realise their collaborative innovation ideas. Under Dawn's leadership 80% of all seed funds directed to projects in the 5 years of WIL Brasil have been to support the advancement of female-led water solutions. Recently, Dawn developed a new innovation testing approach through the Government of Canada FIT funded project “Adolescent Girl Empowerment through Capacity Building and Water Innovation in Northern Mozambique”. She has worked with Waterlution since 2010, in Canada, Portugal, Brazil and Mozambique and in 2021 was instrumental in launching the newly created water and sanitation accelerator programme “Waterlution BRK Acelera”. Dawn brings 20 years of experience as a facilitator, project manager, performer, director and designer of learning experiences to her work with Waterlution. |