Dhaka, Bangladesh | 25-26 February 2025
Speakers at the Toilet Conference 2025 include global leaders, experts, and innovators in sanitation and hygiene. They bring diverse perspectives and share insights on WASH advancements, sustainable solutions, and impactful strategies to address global challenges in sanitation and public health.
Widely recognised as Mr Toilet, Singaporean Jack Sim stands as a prominent social entrepreneur who is actively involved in toilet activism,public education and media communications. He broke taboos surrounding toilets, elevating the sanitation crisis to the center stage with a distinctive blend of humor and factual discourse. In 2001, Jack founded the World Toilet Organization, a Singapore-based global NGO. Through this organisation, he has spearheaded a global movement that involves governments, policymakers, UN agencies, international civil society, thought leaders, and activists, all working together to address the sanitation challenge. Jack’s impact reached global proportions when he successfully advocated for the inscription of 19th November, WTO's founding day, as UN World Toilet Day at the UN General Assembly in 2013, with the resolution sponsored by 122 countries. This monumental achievement underscored his status as a global leader in sanitation advocacy. Withover 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship, Dr Jack Sim, a highly successful businessman, made a pivotal decision at the age of 40 to dedicate the remainder of his life to social work after achieving financial independence.
Professor Dr M Feroze Ahmed, a distinguished Civil and Environmental Engineer, earned his BSc and MSc in Civil Engineering from BUET and a PhD from the University of Strathclyde, UK. A former Professor, Dean, and Head of Civil Engineering at BUET, he has also served as Vice-Chancellor and is now an Emeritus Professor at Stamford University Bangladesh. With over 160 published papers garnering 5,500+ citations in scholarly articles and 22 books cataloged in 152 libraries worldwide, he is recognized as a prolific researcher. He has delivered over 95 invited/keynote lectures globally and contributed as an expert to 20 development projects, including the iconic Jamuna and Padma Bridges. Professor Ahmed received BUET Gold Medal 1998 in recognition of excellence in teaching and research, Institution of Engineers Medal 2004 for the services to the nation and engineering profession and Bangladesh Academy of Sciences Gold Medal 2007 for contribution towards advancement of science and technology. He was part of the BUET-MIT team that won the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Prize for Water. He also received the Asia Education Leadership Award (2016).
Roshan Raj Shrestha leads strategy and planning for the Water, Sanitation & Hygiene team’s work across Asia. He previously co-led the team’s India program. Roshan joined the foundation in 2012 and has earned numerous awards for his work, including the Bill Gates Sr Award in 2024 for outstanding contributions to the foundation. His 30-plus years of experience in the water and sanitation sector include working with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme to plan and implement decentralized water and waste water management programs across South Asia. He also founded the Environment & Public Health Organization in Nepal, where he led innovations in household water treatment and eco-friendly sanitation systems. He serves on the board of trustees of the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand. Roshan earned a PhD in applied natural science from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria.
Antoinette Kome is SNV's global sector coordinator for water, sanitation and hygiene. A senior expert in water resource management, watershed management and water supply and sanitation, Kome leads SNV's WASH programs across 26 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.