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.

Silvère Jarrot is a graduate of the Institut d’Aménagement Régional in Aix-en-Provence (France). He specializes in the urban development of precarious neighborhoods, as well as in defining and implementing interventions in urban crisis contexts. He has worked as a project manager in Africa (Djibouti, Cameroon), the Middle East (Jordan, Iraq), Latin America (Honduras, Mexico), and the Caribbean (Haiti), collaborating with institutional, international, and humanitarian actors. As such, he has extensive experience in project management tools, defining dialogue and consultation mechanisms, post-disaster reconstruction strategies, and the improvement of precarious neighborhoods. In addition, Silvère has participated in applied research activities on informal settlements and on the role of residents in the production and management of these territories. He is the author of several articles on citizen participation in post-disaster reconstruction projects. Since 2015, Silvère has been working as a consultant specializing in the development of precarious neighborhoods and the management of social and environmental issues (EIA, ESMP, RAP). Notably, he has worked as a technical assistant for AFD in Mexico, ensuring the integration of environmental and social considerations in a €1M project portfolio. He has also supported and contributed to the drafting of several impact assessments and resettlement action plans.

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 is not only a highly experienced sociologist, but also and above all a field practitioner, well-versed in the tools and methodologies of social engineering for urban development projects. Versatile and highly adaptable, she is involved in a wide range of fields, including urban development in relation to flood risk management, adaptation to climate change, access to WASH services, hygiene and health, faecal sludge management, waste management and wastewater management, etc. Rachel Kelly is responsible for the social aspects of many of the projects in which she is involved, and holds key positions in the implementation of IEC (Information-Education-Communication) activities for PADY 2 (Yaoundé 2nd phase sanitation project) and the Yaoundé Foul Sludge Management Sector Structuring Project. In addition, she coordinates the Urban and Social Project Management for the Project to Promote Local and Environmental Initiatives for Flood Management (PILEGI) in Bangui, by providing social support for labour-based works and helping to set up and manage a support fund for local environmental initiatives. A loyal collaborator, she worked for several years in the ERA Cameroun team, a long-standing partner of the Global Development group, before joining the Urbaconsulting team in 2022.

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 legal expert specializing in environmental law, with expertise in water resource management, drinking water supply services, and sanitation. With over 23 years of experience, he is recognized by international organizations for his expertise and ability to coordinate large-scale projects, some with budgets of several million euros. He brings a strategic vision through a cross-cutting approach to institutional governance issues, as well as a strong command of national and international legal frameworks.His skills cover a wide range of areas, including the development of legal and regulatory frameworks, structuring essential public services, integrated watershed management, governance of transboundary water bodies, flood and drought risk management, waste management, urban planning, coastal zone management, and climate change adaptation. François Touchais is capable of analyzing legal frameworks, formulating proposals, and drafting laws and regulations tailored to the needs of institutions. He is regularly involved in projects such as prefiguration, technical assistance, institutional policy evaluation, capacity building, and the development of national integrated water resource management strategies.Throughout his career, François Touchais has worked for the Commissariat for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies (CEA), the International Office for Water (OIEau), and the Austrian Environment Agency (UBA GmbH - Umweltbundesamt). He has also worked as a consultant for 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). Since 2022, François has been working for Global Development and serves as vice president of the International Association for the Right to Water (AIDA).

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.

Since joining Global Development in 2022, he has specialized in economics analysis and financial studies in Water projects and services. In 2019, he worked as a Response Data Analyst of iMMAP in Colombia. As data analyst he worked in the structuring, implementation and monitoring of the 4w humanitarian information system. In addition, he has experience in verification, correction and visualization of humanitarian data on behalf of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs-OCHA Colombia. As a UNDP National Technical Assistant in 2013, Camilo mobilized his expertise in the realization of participatory diagnoses, economic and financial analyses, evaluation of effects, results, and impacts for interventions (socio-economic projects, creation, improvement of collective infrastructures, productive projects, financial projections, performance analyses) of the UNDP Poverty Reduction Department in the whole Colombian territory. Thanks to his experience at the United Nations, he has a solid knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially those of poverty reduction, economic and financial development, decent work, and economic growth. Camilo worked at PADF (Pan American Development Foundation) in the mobilization of resources for the humanitarian response to the crisis after the Haiti Earthquake in 2010. He also conducted socio-economic studies for cooperatives and communities in the Dominican Republic. In 2011 as a project assistant, Camilo worked in the formulation of urban projects for vulnerable populations in communities in the south of Bogota, Colombia.

An economist who specializes in organizational governance, Laurent is a highly committed expert who has worked on a range of project coordination assignments with solidarity NGOs. Laurent also has operational experience of the water and energy sectors, which he gained in East Africa and Southeast Asia. In Malawi, he worked on a water point maintenance program, which covered one-third of the country and involved 12,000 pumps, where he supervised and trained a network of 250 mechanics. He also organized the import and distribution of spare parts to the most remote areas of the Central Region, and designed innovative tools to repair severely damaged pumps. Between 2016 and 2018, Laurent launched and managed a development program to make solar electricity accessible to people in the Kampong Speu and Kampong Thom districts of Cambodia. He secured accreditation from the AFD’s Green Microfinance program, which led to the project being supported by several microfinance institutions and which helped expand its reach. From 2018 to 2022, he worked as a team leader in Ethiopia, coordinating around fifteen projects that focused on rural water supply, gravity-fed networks, participatory management models, water pricing structures, network maintenance, and support for family farming, all while managing sensitive land tenure issues in the SNNPR region. Laurent applied his strong planning skills to assist Ethiopian managers, enabling the scale-up of these projects through additional financial support and a twofold increase in activities. As a result of these experiences, Laurent is a project manager who is highly attuned to the operational and strategic concerns of his colleagues and partners. He joined the team in 2025.

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 Global Development 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 conducting evaluations of projects/programmes in the water, sanitation and hygiene sectors and contributes to evaluations for NGOs, development institutions and bilateral and multilateral cooperation agencies (UNESCO, UNICEF, AFD, IDB). Her mastery of evaluation approaches, methodologies and tools enables her to adapt them to a wide variety of fields and contexts.Since July 2021, Marie has also been a technical assistant at AFD for the implementation of the European EUROCLIMA programme across Latin America and the Caribbean for the management of water and natural risks. This has given her a detailed knowledge of the water and sanitation sector in several Latin American and Caribbean countries, as well as of the mechanisms of international cooperation and its players (donors, NGOs, beneficiary institutions, etc.).

With a double Master's degree in Urban Services and Human and Social Sciences, Lise-Ella specializes in improving access to essential services in 'developing countries’. She joins Global Development in 2019 to contribute to water, sanitation and waste projects. Since 2022, she is also our ‘waste’ thematic referent.As part of our Global Development group, Lise-Ella manages international projects with varied budgets, and she is involved in their institutional, organizational and socio-economic aspects. Her expertise in participatory social engineering methods enables her to work with a variety of audiences (institutions, operators, communities, etc.) to develop concerted studies and recommendations, thus ensuring the realism and viability of proposed solutions. She also promotes an inclusive and resilient development approach in every project she undertakes.Her career path has led her to specialize in the solid waste management (SWM) sector. She has carried out several waste characterization studies (Latin America, the Caribbean, West Africa), participated in studies aimed at strengthening pre-collection services in urban areas (Central Africa, West Africa) or promoting integrated waste management (Latin America). She has also taken part in the development of international best practice guides for waste prevention, management and recovery, placing the gender issue at the heart of the approach (Maghreb).

An economist specializing in operational urban planning, Tiavina has proven urban development program management experience, having led infrastructure rehabilitation and improvement projects in disadvantaged areas, and monitored and coordinated social and community projects. Her project management skills, technical expertise and organizational skills enable her to lead complex initiatives to improve living conditions in slums, increase resilience to natural disasters, and implement sustainable solutions for vulnerable communities. She has been involved in a number of international, public and private projects, working closely with local and international partners. Her work on these projects has covered the entire management cycle, from planning to execution: field work monitoring, budget management, stakeholder coordination, institutional relations and activity reports. She has also worked on implementing solutions tailored to the specific needs of communities, focusing particularly on the construction of resilient infrastructure and on managing environmental and social impacts. In addition, Tiavina has made use of her expertise in crisis management situations, particularly on victim compensation and monitoring schemes following natural disasters, and has actively helped implement monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for development projects. Her project monitoring expertise enables her to provide both a strategic and operational perspective and technical support to development project management. She joined Global Development in 2024 to oversee the operational development of five resettlement plans included in the Greater Tana Drinking Water Supply Master Plan. With her extensive field experience, Tiavina uses her skills to coordinate teams to conduct public consultations for socio-economic surveys and administer PAP censuses (more than 3,000 to date), ensuring compliance with the World Bank’s national and international legal and regulatory procedures.

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.

Lola holds a dual Master’s degree in Economics from the Institute of Economic Sciences at Rennes 1 University and in Urban Networked Services Engineering from Sciences Po Rennes – ENS.With three years of professional experience, she has developed strong skills in economic and financial analysis, as well as in project management, focusing particularly on the water, sanitation, and energy access sectors. With expert knowledge of the challenges surrounding access to essential services such as energy, water, and sanitation in developing countries, Lola joined Hydroconseil to support Global Development Group’s clients in the effective implementation of their projects. Lola specialises in designing and analysing quantitative and qualitative surveys, covering the entire process: sampling, development of data collection tools (both qualitative and quantitative), and data processing. She contributes to large-scale studies, ensuring methodological robustness and the relevance of results. She also develops decision-making tools for public policies, notably through financial modelling and cost-benefit analyses. She works on a wide range of projects, including the development of drinking water master plans, the planning of nature-based infrastructure solutions (NBS), and the implementation of drinking water infrastructures, from manual or solar-powered pumps to the design of faecal sludge treatment plants. In parallel, Lola has specialised in climate change adaptation, integrating this dimension into her analyses and recommendations. 

Garance holds a Master’s degree in Development Economics from the Centre for Studies and Research on International Development (CERDI) and specializes in the analysis and management of projects within the realm of Official Development Assistance (ODA). Her education enables her to engage in the socio-economic development sector in Southern countries.Garance develops skills in project management and analysis, enriching her in-depth understanding of the economic, social, political, and environmental challenges of development. She combines these skills with expertise in quantitative and qualitative analysis tools and surveys.Her experience as a project manager for the WO.MEN.STRUATION project at the Afric’Avenir association raised her awareness of the difficulties related to access to water and hygiene infrastructure in developing countries.In 2023, she joined Global Development, where she effectively contributes to the design and management of projects focused on access to essential public services, while providing expertise in economic and institutional analysis. She participates in the creation of a baseline to assess the link between access conditions to WASH infrastructure in Freetown (Sierra Leone) and the impact on waterborne diseases among the population.She also develops an institutional comparative analysis of the different structuring models of water and sanitation public services in the Sahel region.