Natasha Westheimer

Seminar: Political Drivers for Sustainable Ecosystems

Natasha Westheimer is currently serving as the Economic Development Associate for the Water Team at the Office of the Quartet in Jerusalem. Natasha has a BA in International Development and Conflict Management from the University of Maryland (2013) and an MSc in Water Science, Policy, and Management from the University of Oxford (2016). Her dissertation from Oxford examined how Jordan’s water sector has adapted to frequent waves of migration from across the Middle East and highlighted the need for socio-ecological systems (including water) to prepare for social as well as environmental shocks. Natasha’s professional experience has been focused on transboundary water management in Israel the Palestinian territory. She has worked as an assistant project manager on an Israeli-Palestinian cross-border wastewater management initiative at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. Subsequently, she was the regional resource development officer at EcoPeace Middle East, where she facilitated the design of a gender-mainstreaming strategy for the organization’s flagship water program. In 2016-2017, she held a Dorot Foundation leadership fellowship, where she directed a short-documentary on the demise of a freshwater spring in the Jordan Valley of the West Bank and started her work at the Office of the Quartet’s as a Research Associate on their Water Team.