SIWI-WASH experts join IVL

SIWI is transferring its team of experts in governance of water and sanitation services, SIWI-WASH, to the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL). The acquisition, which is part of an ongoing reorganization at SIWI, will help strengthen IVL’s international efforts to tackle the growing challenges of water scarcity and sanitation.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Water governance

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Andreas Karlsson

Director,

Communications

As global water crises intensify due to climate change, urbanization, and industrialization, experts agree that sustainable water management and effective sanitation solutions will become increasingly urgent. The SIWI-WASH team has extensive experience in water governance and has worked in over 100 countries, focusing on developing solutions that improve water access and hygiene in the world’s most vulnerable regions. In 2023 alone, the team operated across 44 countries globally, with a strong presence in the Global South, where access to clean water and sanitation remains a critical issue.

“Joining IVL is an exciting opportunity to continue our mission and strengthen our impact,” says Alejandro Jiménez, director of SIWI-WASH. “With our long-standing international expertise in the governance of WASH services, we complement IVL’s existing operations. Together, we will be able to develop better integrated support to countries and partners in both water and climate-related issues.”

IVL’s expertise in the field of water ranges from technology and solutions in water treatment to blue economy and blue-green solutions in cities. Internationally, IVL already has an office in Mumbai, India, where many of its activities and projects focus on water treatment and wastewater management. An important part of the future will be research and innovation to develop sustainable and practical solutions that can contribute to more circular water management.

“Joining IVL is an exciting opportunity to continue our mission and strengthen our impact.”

Alejandro Jiménez, director of SIWI-WASH

“Access to clean water and solutions to enable good hygiene are becoming increasingly challenging in many regions of the world, often due to climate impacts or geopolitical unrest,” says John Rune Nielsen, CEO of IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute. “We need to scale up international efforts to meet this need. It is therefore very positive that we can become stronger in these important areas and continue the work that these employees are doing at SIWI today.”

SIWI-WASH consists of about 20 people, some of which are based in Stockholm, with additional staff-members based in France and Spain, as well as local representative offices in Amman and Bogotá. The team has long worked to enable more efficient, equitable, and environmentally sustainable governance of water supply and sanitation in low- and middle-income countries.

“The transfer of SIWI-WASH to IVL marks a significant step forward in SIWI’s and IVL’s shared mission to address global water and sanitation challenges. It will bring together deep expertise in governance of water and sanitation services, and innovative research and solutions. This will create new opportunities to drive lasting positive change,” says Caroline Andersson, Acting Executive Director at SIWI.