Global Water Partnership Appoints New Executive Secretary

The Global Water Partnership (GWP) announced the appointment of Dr. Ania Grobicki as the GWP Executive Secretary, effective March 11, 2009.

Dr. Grobicki is currently Head of Secretariat for the multi-stakeholder forum on strengthening research for health, development and equity worldwide which was established to prepare for the 2008 Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health. As Head, she was responsible for operations, fundraising, outreach, communications, and engagement with high-level individuals across the globe and oversaw the November 2008 Bamako conference.

"The GWP Steering Committee looked for and found in Dr. Grobicki a unique and energizing person to lead the GWP network into the next strategy period," said Letitia A. Obeng, GWP Chair. "We wanted someone strategic who will excite the Partnership, bringing with them a key range of skills."

Dr. Grobicki has spent the majority of her working life establishing and growing a range of organizations, and working on water-related issues at the sub-national, national and international levels. For 10 years she managed her own consulting firm where she worked on, among other things, water supply, reuse, water quality, pollution, sanitation, and integrated catchment management issues. She has worked on the water needs of industry, energy, agriculture, health and the environment.

"I look forward to serving and supporting this unique network of stakeholders that is GWP, and reaching out to new and potential partners worldwide," said Dr. Grobicki. Noting that her new responsibilities coincide with the start of a new strategy period for GWP (2009-2013), she remarked that, "through the global strategy we will support approaches that are innovative and sustainable, in order to meet the water needs of all sectors of the economy, and ecosystems."

Affirming the priorities of the new strategy, Dr. Grobicki added, "With communities, societies and nations under pressure from the economic downturn and from the effects of increasing climate variability, I believe passionately that GWP's key task is to keep the focus on water security for all, especially for the most vulnerable groups, such as women and children, who are the first affected in times of crisis."

Dr. Grobicki has worked extensively with various NGOs and UN agencies and is a prolific writer of books and papers, including for the 2nd World Water Development Report. She has been a Coordinator for the African National Congress's Science and Technology Group, a Coordinator for the CGIAR's Challenge Program for Water and Food and has also been a university lecturer in South Africa and the UK. Dr. Grobicki has a BA in Economics, a BSc in Chemical Engineering and a PhD in Biotechnology from Imperial College, London.

Dr. Grobicki succeeds Emilio Gabrielli who left in May 2008 to take a private sector position in Australia. Martin Walshe, GWP Deputy Executive Secretary, is serving as Acting Executive Secretary.

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The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is an international network whose vision is for a water secure world. The mission is to support the sustainable development and management of water resources at all levels. GWP was created in 1996 to foster integrated water resources management (IWRM), and to ensure the coordinated development and management of water, land, and related resources by maximising economic and social welfare without compromising the sustainability of vital environmental systems. The GWP network is active in 13 regions and over 50 countries, and open to all organisations involved in water resources management.