Karen Lévy is an architect and urban planner specializing in developing cities. After more than twelve years of experience in designing, coordinating, and managing urban projects in France, she has spent over ten years expanding her expertise by focusing on urban transformations in major cities of the Global South. A graduate of the University of Paris Nanterre, where she defended her thesis in 2018, Karen has worked on understanding how stakeholders involved in real estate production operate in Southern cities, particularly in Johannesburg and Delhi. She has hands-on experience in managing complex projects and has developed expertise in analyzing urban dynamics in emerging cities. Her strong architectural and environmental awareness enables her to design sustainable projects that are well integrated into their territories. Through the management of multidisciplinary studies, she actively contributes to a co-construction process and a collaborative design approach. Karen has successfully built bridges between different audiences and disciplines. Recently, from 2022 to 2024, she contributed to the development of urban planning documents for five cities in Benin, incorporating climate change adaptation, coordinating operational policies with local communities, and strengthening institutional capacities. Her research combines the analysis of governance systems and urban development in peripheral areas. She is an associate researcher at the French Institute of South Africa - Research. Karen has authored several articles on the specificities of development programs for middle-class populations in Johannesburg and Delhi and has co-organized numerous academic conferences and events.

Clémence Foreau holds an engineering degree from Polytech Tours, specialising in urban planning and the environment. Throughout her studies, she focused on the urban challenges faced by developing countries. Before joining Urbaconsulting in 2022, Clémence led projects within NGOs (Urbanistes Sans Frontières, ADESAF) and consulting firms, working on improving living conditions in informal settlements (RHI/RHS operations, NPNRU, etc.), urban planning, access to essential public services, and assessing and reducing urban vulnerability in Africa (Senegal, Togo), Asia (India), and similar contexts (Mayotte). Convinced that working in partnership with local resources and stakeholders is essential to developing projects that are adapted to on-the-ground realities and foster knowledge sharing, she has developed expertise in co-constructing projects through citizen engagement. As a result, Clémence possesses the knowledge and skills required to implement sustainable, resilient, and locally tailored projects.

Claude Bernadin is a civil and urban engineer with extensive international experience, gained primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. An expert at managing and coordinating urban development projects, he has worked on initiatives that span road infrastructure, drainage systems (gutters, collectors, culverts, bridges), drinking water supply facilities (elevated, ground-level, or semi-underground reservoirs), public and commercial facilities, as well as local urban water and sanitation-related services.Over the course of his career, Claude Bernadin has held technical assistance, project management, and construction supervision positions of increasing responsibility, ultimately taking on the role of team leader on large-scale projects. In this team leader role, he has overseen the implementation of urban development projects and programs as part of both full and partial project management assignments (feasibility studies, preliminary and detailed designs, environmental and social impact assessments, national implementation, construction supervision), and has also provided project management support to clients.Claude Bernadin has an in-depth knowledge of the challenges associated with accessing essential urban services in sub-Saharan African countries. He has extensive experience of working on urban development and transport projects in a range of regulatory settings and in line with donor requirements, which includes working on technical studies, project management, and public procurement. He has effectively supported ministries (urban development, water, energy, sanitation), local authorities and other development stakeholders, integrating approaches that enhance local financial governance, build capacity, and promote sustainability in facility management and maintenance.As an experienced engineer, Claude combines technical expertise with comprehensive professional skills to successfully lead projects while collaborating effectively with all stakeholders. He joined the Global Development team in 2025 where he is actively contributing to the Group’s multidisciplinary projects across the African continent.

With a degree in civil and urban engineering, Magloire Tina specializes in urban infrastructure management and water supply and sanitation service management projects. In addition, he has over 17 years' international experience, gained mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. After initially working as a research and design engineer, Magloire began taking on project manager and programme coordinator roles, effectively managing the administrative and financial aspects of the projects on which he worked. He has robust experience of working on feasibility studies, project management, public procurement, works and services monitoring and audits.His familiarity with procurement procedures and EU, AFD and ADB-funded projects’ disbursement procedures make Magloire a valuable and recognised asset for public stakeholders, particularly local authorities.Having worked closely on multi-stakeholder consultation processes, Magloire has a thorough understanding of the issues involved in providing access to basic urban services in developing countries, and he thus has the ability to guide and support stakeholders in their strategic decisions and in the management of their investment programmes.He provides strategic, technical and managerial assistance to contracting authorities, particularly as regards outsourced water and sanitation service management, while at the same time helping these contracting authorities to develop their skills. Magloire's communication skills means he has excellent consultation and report-writing skills, and is thus able to facilitate communication between stakeholders in international and multicultural working environments.

As soon as he had completed his research projects in solid waste management and the design of engineering structures, Volodia specialised in the study of issues relating to soft mobility and urban planning. By working in design offices on the design and implementation of urban projects, he has developed technical skills in the areas of infrastructure, mobility, intermodality and accessibility.Convinced that the academic and technical skills of an engineer can be put to good use in social development, strengthening human ties and tackling environmental emergencies by acting directly in the field, Volodia joined AFD's teams in the Central African Republic. For two years he was responsible for the technical and financial monitoring of the urban development, water and sanitation portfolio and acted as the agency's gender focal point.By becoming fully involved in the identification, appraisal and management of projects in Central Africa, Volodia has been able to deepen his knowledge of donor procedures and provide effective support to the partners and local authorities involved in these projects. Driven by a desire to work with local resources, and to help build sustainable, appropriate projects, he provides capacity-building and technical assistance to project owners.On joining the Urbaconsulting team, he will be working with Global Development Group customers as an expert in urban planning, water and sanitation, providing cross-functional and operational support. He is also mobilised to provide institutional support by taking part in the project to support the reform of the normative framework for urban planning implemented in Cameroon.

Rachel Kelly NOUPA has extensive experience in the following areas: social support for projects, community mobilisation, communication for behavioural change, ESIA, development of Resettlement Action Plans (RAPs), support for the implementation of RAPs, mastery of social urban project management tools (MOUS), urban diagnosis and planning, WASH, EHA, participatory approach, capacity building for municipalities, social engineering of projects, identification and monitoring of performance indicators.Specialist in social engineering of projects, but also a field practitioner, well versed in the tools and methodologies of social engineering for urban development projects, including: conducting public consultations, socio-cultural and socio-economic surveys, community mobilisation, data analysis and synthesis, integration of gender and development aspects, participatory methodology, communication for behavioural change.Experience in defining eligibility criteria, compensation/resettlement, site selection, preparation, and implementation of grievance mechanisms.A loyal collaborator, she worked for several years with the ERA Cameroon team, a long-standing partner of the Global Development group, before joining the Urbaconsulting team in 2022.

A Google Data Analytics-certified financial analyst and economist, Jeanne has over 10 years of experience of working on urban development, municipal services management, spatial planning, local governance and economic development projects carrying out economic and financial analyses, budget planning, performance evaluations and institutional strengthening. Her work has focused on drainage, sanitation and waste management programmes, municipal development plans, urban resilience mechanisms, as well as feasibility studies and economic models for local infrastructure.She has worked on numerous public and regional projects funded by donors such as the French Development Agency (AFD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), developing administrative and financial procedure manuals, conducting local financial diagnostics, designing business plans and structuring budget monitoring frameworks.Her approach combines analytical rigour, an understanding of national development strategies and expertise in the use of tools for collecting, processing and visualising economic and financial data (R, SQL, Tableau, Excel), all of which enables her to help improve the efficiency of public spending and statistical systems.

An experienced sociologist specialising in project management and development involving both local and national stakeholders, Dominique works on socio-economic studies and capacity-building plans and provides support for gender-inclusive approaches. Her recognised expertise enables her to take the social impacts (gender, inclusion, relocation) of infrastructure projects into account, particularly in the most fragile regions of Cameroon (Far North, North-West, East). She thus helps to support beneficiaries and fosters their active participation through social commitments aimed at ensuring the sustainability of infrastructure project investments. Highly committed to institutional capacity-building and community empowerment, she particularly focuses on both the inclusion of women and children and the prevention of gender-based violence (GBV). She has already conducted institutional assessments, including evaluating the skills of local government staff in five capital cities in Cameroon, which culminated in her designing training courses. She has also carried out social studies on mobility and the use of commercial facilities during project assessment and feasibility phases. Dominique has outstanding writing, interpersonal and managerial skills, which she puts to good use when supporting public institutions to manage projects financed by donors such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the French Development Agency.

As a legal expert specialising in water resource, sanitation and water supply management, service governance and people’s rights to access these services, Laure-Elise has been involved in case studies in countries such as South Africa, Bangladesh and South Korea. Awarded a Young Water Leader prize during her Master’s studies, she continued her research by focusing on the national and cross-border issues raised by the Mekong River dams. Working in both basin organisation countries (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam) and neighbouring countries (China, Myanmar), she used an inter-connected approach to examine the issues posed by these dams and explore their environmental, social and economic impacts on governance, national and international law and resource management. She particularly focused on the social impacts and studied the resettlement provisions put in place for affected communities, as well as the institutional and legal measures available to help affected communities advocate for their water rights the event of cross-border issues. A strong believer in sustainable development, Laure-Elise advocated for compromise when responding to the economic, social and environmental problems associated with these major dam investment programmes.Laure-Elise has published a number of academic papers and spoke at the 17th World Water Congress, highlighting the issues created by dams, both in Asia and Africa, while recommending tangible adjustments to sustainable development and hydropower policy.Having built up extensive experience of raising awareness and lobbying on domestic water use, she joined the Water For Life and Peace department of the NGO Greencross International, where she helped formulate a project to improve management of the Jordan river basin. Laure-Elise ensured that the project took an inclusive and eco-systemic approach to river basin management, which included all its stakeholders, issues and governance levels. As a member of AIDA, she occasionally represents the association at UNESCO's Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme. In 2025, Laure-Elise joined Hydroconseil, where she is providing support to our Global Development Group clients using her skills in comparative analysis and adaptation to improve water resource institutional set-ups and governance.

Hélène is an agri-development engineer with proven experience in institutional and organisational capacity-building, as well as in the monitoring and evaluation of public water and sanitation policies in several countries.Her managerial skills and expertise have led her to lead a number of projects for international, private and non-governmental organisations relating to the strengthening of municipal project management, the promotion of gender equality, decentralisation and the delegation of public drinking water and sanitation services.The studies and assignments she conducts in the water sector cover various phases of the project cycle: institutional and socio-economic feasibility, monitoring and evaluation, cross-cutting studies, capitalisation and technical assistance. Hélène has also helped to define national policies and strategies relating to water and sanitation, and to set up sectoral steering mechanisms.This experience has given Hélène considerable expertise in defining and implementing capacity-building strategies and results-based management, as well as a keen interest in moderating workshops and seminars for reflection, experience-sharing and training. Hélène Figea, who worked at Hydroconseil between 2018 and 2022, joins the Global Development team again in 2024.

François Touchais is a governance and institutional reform expert specializing in the water and environmental sectors. Over more than 24 years, he has supported governments, utilities, and international organizations in improving the management of water resources, drinking water supply, and sanitation services. Renowned for his strategic vision and ability to coordinate complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives, he has led or advised on large-scale programs with multimillion-euro budgets aimed at strengthening sector performance and regulatory frameworks. François Touchais is an expert in institutional governance, policy, and regulatory development, with a focus on the structuring and modernization of drinking water, sanitation, and irrigation utilities. He has extensive experience in integrated water resources management, transboundary basin governance, and resilience to floods and droughts. Combining analytical depth with a pragmatic understanding of institutional dynamics, François brings a cross-cutting perspective that bridges policy, legal, and operational dimensions. He regularly contributes to institutional diagnostics, policy design, technical assistance, and capacity-building programs supporting the modernization of water governance systems at both national and international levels. Since 2022, François has been working with Hydroconseil, as Senior Institutional and Legal Expert and Team Leader. He leads governance and reform assignments for governments and development partners. Earlier in his career, he served with the Commissariat for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies (CEA), the International Office for Water (OiEau), and the Austrian Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA GmbH). He has also advised numerous international organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit). François currently serves as Vice President of the International Association for Water Law (AIDA), contributing to the advancement of water governance and legal frameworks worldwide.

Charlotte Kalinowski is a public law and political science graduate specialising in the design and management of public services, mainly water, sanitation and solid waste. She joined Hydroconseil in 2015 after having spent several years working for the largest sanitation authority in Europe (SIAAP). Over the course of her 15 year career, Charlotte has conducted national sector studies, defined national policies and strategies, and led the implementation of a large number of projects to structure sanitation services (technical, institutional, financial and socio-economic feasibility studies; project preparation, monitoring and evaluation; research; facilitating consultation workshops; developing concession contracts, etc.). She has also provided technical assistance to project owners on structuring and implementing urban development projects. She has extensive experience of the economic and institutional issues specific to the water, sanitation and waste sectors, both in large and small cities and in rural areas. Charlotte has worked in Africa, the Middle East and south-east Asia. She is currently based in Lebanon where she coordinates Hydroconseil and Urbaconsulting activities.

Benoit Paillet is an engineer who specialises in the O&M of water supply and sanitation systems, and in assessing, designing and supervising works. After graduating with a Master’s degree in Water Engineering in 2005, he applied and honed his knowledge and skills working for consulting firms, public water supply and sanitation utilities and international NGOs in Europe, Asia and Africa. Through his work preparing 46 master plans, Benoit developed an in-depth understanding of the practical challenges of rural and urban water supply and sanitation. In his subsequent position as head of a public operator department, managing an annual €7.5 million budget for improving water supply and sanitation networks, he worked with his team on planning, designing and implementing technical solutions to address these challenges.In 2021, he will join Hydroconseil (part of the Global Development group) and become our in-house point of reference for issues relating to the investment and operation of drinking water and wastewater networks.In 2021 and 2022, he will be involved in Cape Verde in the design of salt water catchment, reverse osmosis treatment, pumping and storage infrastructures, entirely powered by photovoltaic energy.In 2023, he also provided his expertise in non-revenue water (NRW) for an ambitious institutional reform project involving the creation of a water and sanitation department within the Municipality of Yatta, in the southern West Bank, in accordance with the Palestinian Water Law of 2014.In 2024, Benoit is in charge of designing pilot District Metered Areas (DMA) on Mosul’s water supply network, in Iraq, for the ICRC. And in 2025, he is the Team Leader of a Technical Assistance aimed at improving REGIDESO's performance in Burundi.

A graduate of the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherche sur le Développement International, Marie specialises in development economics and project analysis. She has thus developed solid skills in management tools and research methodologies applied to development economics issues. In Colombia, Marie became involved with an NGO and quickly familiarised herself with the Latin American context. She joined Hydroconseil in 2019, where she applies her socio-economic, institutional and statistical expertise to projects aimed at improving access to drinking water and sanitation services.She specialises in the evaluation of development projects and programmes, especially in the water, and sanitation sector. She conducts evaluations for NGOs as well as for bilateral and multilateral agencies such as UNESCO, UNICEF, AFD and the IDB. Her strong command of evaluation approaches, methodologies and tools enables her to adapt them to a wide range of sectors and contexts. Since 2019, she has carried out more than a dozen evaluations across different countries and thematic areas.Since July 2021, Marie has been based in Colombia, where she has been supporting AFD as a technical assistant for a complex, multi-country regional programme in Latin America and the Caribbean (Euroclima), overseeing the monitoring and evaluation of six sectoral projects. She has also led two major evaluations for the IDB in Peru and Uruguay, and is actively involved in the joint external mid-term evaluation of the UN-Water Strategy 2030 and Phase 3 of the Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6 (IMI-SDG6).

With a dual Master's degree in Urban Services Engineering and Human and Social Sciences, Lise-Ella specializes in improving access to essential services in ‘developing’ countries. She joined Hydroconseil in 2019 to contribute to water, sanitation, and waste projects. Since 2022, she has also been our solid waste specialist.Within our Global Development group, Lise-Ella manages international projects with varying budgets and is particularly involved in institutional, organizational and socio-economic aspects. Her expertise in participatory social engineering methods enables her to work with a variety of audiences (institutions, small operators, communities, informal sector, etc.) to develop concerted studies and recommendations, thereby ensuring the realism and viability of the proposed solutions. In addition, she promotes an inclusive and resilient development approach in each of the projects she is involved in.She has drawn on her knowledge of public policy to carry out institutional and organizational assessments for central and local government institutions, as well as the private sector (ministries, cities, operators, etc.). Lise-Ella fosters an inclusive and resilient development approach in all the projects in which she is involved.Her career has led her to specialize in the solid waste sector. She has conducted several waste characterization studies (Latin America, Caribbean, West Africa), participated in studies aimed at strengthening pre-collection services in urban areas (Central Africa, West Africa), and promoted integrated waste management, particularly for the most vulnerable groups such as waste pickers (Latin America). She has also participated in the development of international best practice guides on waste prevention, management, and recovery, placing gender issues at the heart of the approach (Maghreb).

Henry Alix EFFA is a civil engineer who specializes in environmental and urban management, and who has proven waste management, urban planning and environmental engineering expertise. He has worked in a range of organizations, leading strategic institutional set-up projects, undertaking environmental project management and supervising construction work projects. He spent two years in Yaoundé overseeing household waste collection and transport, public space maintenance, and gutters and drain cleaning services, ensuring that they complied with contractual and regulatory requirements. He also supervised studies to quantify and characterize solid household waste in several cities in Cameroon (Douala, Dschang, Yaoundé), Central African Republic and Guinea in order to better target waste management strategies and improve service efficiency. He joined the Global Development team in 2025, where he works on implementing the Group's multidisciplinary projects in Africa, focusing particularly on these projects’ technical aspects and sustainability.

An economist specialising in operational urban planning, Tiavina has solid experience in managing urban development programmes, leading infrastructure rehabilitation and improvement projects in disadvantaged areas, and monitoring and coordinating social and community projects.Her project management skills, technical expertise and organisational skills enable her to lead complex initiatives related to improving living conditions in slums, resilience to natural disasters and the implementation of sustainable solutions for vulnerable communities. She has contributed to various international, public and private projects, working closely with local and international partners.The projects she participates in cover the entire management cycle, from planning to execution: monitoring field operations, budget management, stakeholder coordination, institutional relations and preparation of activity reports. She has also been involved in implementing solutions tailored to the specific needs of communities, particularly through the construction of resilient infrastructure and the management of environmental and social impacts.She has also contributed her expertise in crisis management, particularly in the monitoring and compensation of victims after natural disasters, and has actively participated in the implementation of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for development projects in Madagascar.Her expertise, acquired through her various experiences in project monitoring, enables her to provide strategic and operational vision and technical support in the management of development projects.She joined Global Development in 2024, primarily to support the development of five Resettlement Plans as part of the Greater Tana Drinking Water Master Plan. Drawing on her field experience, Tiavina uses her skills to coordinate teams in conducting public consultations in urban and rural areas, carrying out socio-economic surveys and a census of over 5,000 people affected by the project in Greater Tana, whilst ensuring compliance with national and international legal and regulatory procedures, including those of the World Bank.

With a double Master's degree in economics and urban network services engineering, Lola is an economist specialising in essential services, particularly in the water and sanitation sectors. Her profile is based on two complementary areas of expertise. The first part of her career has focused on applied economics and market analysis, including the design of quantitative and qualitative survey tools, sampling, fieldwork, and statistical and socio-economic analysis (willingness and ability to pay, demand analysis, user studies). She regularly works in the field, particularly in Central Africa. The second part of her experience focused on financial and strategic analysis of water and sanitation operators and services: financial modelling, cost-benefit analysis, pricing, budgeting, service profitability analysis and strategic decision-making support. She assists public operators and local authorities in structuring commercial strategies, defining KPIs and developing roadmaps. Lola works as a socio-economist and financial economist for public organisations and international donors (World Bank, EIB, AFD), combining technical, financial and social analyses that are closely aligned with the realities on the ground.

With a master's degree in development economics from the Centre for International Development Studies and Research (CERDI), Garance specialises in project analysis and management in official development assistance. She has a solid grasp of economic analytical frameworks and quantitative methods applied to public policy and essential services, particularly in the water, sanitation and hygiene sectors. Her career has enabled her to develop comprehensive expertise in the socio-economic analysis production chain, from survey design to results interpretation.Garance has been with Hydroconseil for over three years, applying her economic and data expertise to numerous international projects. She designs and manages large-scale socio-economic surveys (KoboToolBox, Sphinx, mWater), performs statistical analyses using Excel and SPSS, develops indicators and decision-making dashboards (Power BI), and promotes the results to aid decision-making. She has been involved in the baseline study for the UNOPS Emergency Support for Reducing Waterborne Diseases in Freetown (2024–2025) project, funded by the Japanese government, as well as establishing a WASH baseline for UNICEF in 15 schools in the state of Nuevo León in Mexico, overseeing the entire data process from collection to analysis and operational reporting of results. She is also contributing to the joint mid-term evaluation of the UN-Water 2030 Strategy and the Integrated Monitoring Initiative for SDG 6 (IMI-SDG 6) as an expert in data collection and analysis, performance indicators and the formulation of strategic recommendations.

Aurel Ohier is a geomatics specialist with a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and a Master’s degree in Geomatics. He has a thorough command of the entire geomatics production chain — from data research and qualification to processing, analysis, and cartographic production. His expertise covers both raster and vector data handling, as well as the design of cartographic outputs tailored to operational needs.His work provides cross-cutting support to project teams, from data exploration to cartographic outputs for reports and studies. He contributes to the structuring and organization of diverse datasets, adapting methods and deliverables to local contexts and the specific needs of stakeholders.At Global Development, he takes part in international projects where geomatics is applied to a wide range of uses — for example, developing multi-criteria analyses to identify suitable sites for infrastructure development, monitoring socio-economic surveys in the field, or producing national-level thematic assessments covering land use, territorial dynamics, and environmental resources.He is also responsible for producing thematic and functional maps, documenting data sources, and supporting teams in using geographic information for project analysis and planning.