Dhaka, Bangladesh | 25-26 February 2025
Meet the esteemed programme committee members of the Toilet Conference 2025. Explore the profiles of leaders, experts, and innovators driving impactful sanitation and hygiene initiatives worldwide.
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Professor Juliet Willetts is Research Director at University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures (UTS-ISF). She leads applied research to inform water and sanitation policy and practice in Asia and the Pacific. Her contributions cover climate change, technical, environmental, governance, behavioural, gender equality and public health aspects, partnering with governments, UN agencies, research institutions and bilateral, multilateral and civil society organisations. Her achievements have been recognised by multiple awards, including IWA Gender and Diversity in Water Award 2024 and Australian Financial Reviews’ 100 Women of Influence. She holds a PhD from University of NSW in Environmental Engineering and is widely published with more than 150 peer-reviewed articles.
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Dr Abdullah Al-Muyeed is a development expert with over 18 years of specialised work experience in numerous environmental fields. He is now the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the CWIS-FSM Support Cell, Department of Public Health Engineering, under the Local Government Division. Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development & Co-operatives (MoLGRD&C) The CWIS-FSM Support Cell is supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He collaborates with the Planning Commission on SDG6 accomplishments across the country and maintains a crucial strategic organisational connection with development partners. CWIS-FSM Support Cell is acting as a critical anchor of the sanitation journey of the Government's overall mission of sanitation and waste management. He is in charge of budget management and monitoring to move the Workplan forward and coordinate government duties on WASH-related projects. Currently, he is holding a direct grant/fund valued at more than 2.5 million USD for the operating budget of the CWIS-FSM Support Cell, as well as ensuring that overall Government-led sanitation initiatives valued at more than 100 million USD per year are inaction to meet the SDG 6.2 objective countrywide. Dr Muyeed formerly served as Head of Policy and Advocacy in WaterAid Bangladesh's Senior Management Team (SMT). He was a key contributor to WaterAid Bangladesh's Country Strategy Plan (2016-21). He has shown expertise in establishing and implementing large-scale environmental and water sanitation programs/projects aimed at poor and vulnerable communities in Bangladesh's physically and technically challenging urban and rural environments.
Mr Andrés Hueso González provides strategic leadership to WaterAid’s global sanitation research and policy agenda. He is a cross-disciplinary expert, combining an engineering background with several years as a development scholar, having conducted research in different countries in South America, Africa and South Asia. He has been working in the sanitation sector since 2009, joining WaterAid in 2014. In his PhD he analysed the Indian sanitation policy using a framework that integrated sustainability and political economy concepts, and included intensive field research on four Community-Led Total Sanitation inspired experiences. He was instrumental in the creation of the Initiative for Sanitation Workers, a global advocacy coalition focused on the health, safety and dignity of sanitation workers. Other areas of interest include: rural sanitation approaches, gender and sanitation, sustainability of large sanitation investments and climate smart sanitation.
Mr John Knight has been working at WaterAid since 2018 as the Regional Technical Advisor for South Asia, supporting projects and teams in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and (until 2022) Myanmar. Projects cover a broad range of areas such as urban piped water supply systems, monitoring and mapping rural water supply, water resources, water quality and treatment, faecal sludge management, WASH in schools and healthcare facilities, hygiene behaviour change, and WASH systems strengthening. Key responsibilities include providing technical support, capacity building, research, knowledge management and learning, and developing technical guidelines. Prior to WaterAid, Mr John worked for humanitarian aid organisations for 10 years managing emergency WASH responses in Ukraine, Myanmar, Nepal, Iraq, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda. He has a degree in civil engineering, and a masters in energy conservation and the environment.
Mr Md Tahmidul Islam is an experienced engineer with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organisation industry, consultancy, and academia. He is currently working as the Head of Technical services at WaterAid Bangladesh, skilled in project designing, project management, report writing, fundraising and technical support for context specific water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions. He is also the ‘National Facilitator’ for International Training Programme on Sustainable Urban Water and Sanitation (ITP-SUWAS) in Bangladesh and ‘Coordinator - Young Professional’ for International Water Association (IWA) Bangladesh Chapter. Mr Islam has more than twelve years of experience working in the water sector and in the very recent past, he has been working with Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering (SEED) of KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden and supporting multifaceted programme for Bangladesh focused on hydrogeological assessment, and policy formulation for enhancing safe water access in coordination of different governmental, intergovernmental, multinational and local collaborators. He was also involved in teaching of different courses offered by SEED e.g., Environmental Data, Environmental Chemistry and Risk Assessment, Applied Hydrogeology, and endeavours with Tanzania and Bolivia with the development of affordable removal technologies for arsenic and fluoride from drinking water, aquatic pollution and remediation, and surveillance of COVID-19 with Wastewater Based Epidemiology (WBE) for Sweden, India and Bangladesh.
Dr Mike Poustie works as a Research Analyst for Practical Action in Bangladesh. Mike has over 15 years experience in water, sanitation and drainage engineering in developing countries, most recently living and working in regional Bangladesh since 2019. Prior to moving to Bangladesh with his family, Mike completed his PhD looking at processes to enable transitions to improved urban water and waste water management in developing countries. When working for World Vision as an Urban WASH advisor he consulted on projects across Asia-Pacific and Africa. He is particularly interested in seeing faecal sludge management systems strengthened - and the intersection of research and practice.
Mr Mohammed Monirul Alam is currently leading the WASH policy and system strengthening portfolio of GoB-UNICEF WASH programme in Bangladesh. Mr Monir has over 25 years of experience working on national policy and local practice across a range of WASH contexts in UNICEF and Danish Embassy. He has master’s degree in two disciplines: i. Urban and Regional Planning from Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET); ii. Water & Environmental Management under Water Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) in Loughborough University, UK.
Rajeev Munankami is the Global Coordinator for Sustainable Urban Water Cycles (SUWC) within the Water sector at SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. He leads global programs and projects, ensuring their alignment with SNV’s strategic goals, and manages their implementation across multiple regions and countries. Rajeev provides technical expertise to country teams, driving effective project delivery, while enhancing the capacity of local partners through training and knowledge-sharing initiatives.He previously led the Multi-Country Programme on Urban Sanitation in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tanzania, and Zambia, as part of the WASH SDG programme funded by the Dutch government. He played a pivotal role in the initiation of non-sewered and FSM initiatives in Bangladesh. With extensive experience as a Senior Program Advisor, he has successfully managed programs for both government agencies and I/NGOs. His expertise encompasses community-level planning, technology transfer, multi-stakeholder sector development, and human resources. Rajeev holds a Master's degree in Sustainable Energy Systems and Management from the University of Flensburg.
Dr Tanvir Ahmed is a WASH specialist, academic and researcher. He is currently serving as a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Mr Tanvir has a Bachelors and Masters degree in Civil Engineering from BUET and PhD in environmental engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tanvir’s primary research interests are in the field of waste management, WASH and public health, citywide sanitation planning, environmental impact and risk assessment. He has 50+ technical articles in journals, and lends professional service to Government agencies and development partners in various national projects. Tanvir has served four and a half years as the Director of ITN-BUET, a Centre under the University dedicated to build capacity of WASH professionals in the country. In this position, he is engaged in shaping national WASH policies, strategies and guidelines and led the regional citywide inclusive sanitation capacity building program, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
V Srinivas Chary is the Director of the Centre for Urban Governance, Environment, Energy and Infrastructure Developmentat the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI). He provides the strategic direction to the Centre and leads its advisory, consulting, research and capacity development programme. He is also the Director of Centre of Excellence in Urban Development at ASCI instituted by the Government of India. He is an urban environmental planner and public health engineer with over two decades of experience in urban infrastructure services, governance reforms and equity. He specialises in water and environmental sanitation (WASH) services in urban areas and his portfolio spans policy, programme, capacity development and knowledge management projects for national, state and city governments. He engages with multilateral funding agencies, national government, the corporate sector, private donors, Academic/ R&D institutes and civil society organisations, political leaders, the media, and CoPs to leverage financial and technical resources for accessible and equitable WASH services. He works with a number of Start-ups in WASH and mentors them to achieve scale. He serves on various Inter on ministerial and department level committees on urban development, water supply, smart cities and environmental sanitation at the State and National levels.