Session 3 : Poverty eradication and quality of the environment in urban and peri urban areas

Appointed Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) by the United Nations General Assembly, Dr. Joan Clos took office in October 2010. Born in Barcelona, he is a medical doctor with a distinguished career in public service and diplomacy. He was twice elected Mayor of Barcelona during the years 1997-2006. He was appointed Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade of Spain (2006-2008). As a city councillor (1983-1987), he earned a reputation for improving municipal management and for urban renewal projects. From 1990 to 1994 he was Deputy Mayor in charge of Finance and Budgeting, playing a key role during the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. At the international level, he occupied leading positions in several cities’ networks: Metropolis (1998), the World Association of Cities and Local Authorities (WACLAC) (2000), the United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA) (2000-2007). He was also a member of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) (1997-2003).
 

Sheela Patel is the Founder-Director of the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers (SPARC) which is an NGO in Mumbai that has been established in 1984 and has been working in active partnerships Mahila Milan and National Slum Dwellers Federation, two social movements and community based membership organizations of the urban poor. Together they work to access and secure housing and infrastructure rights for the poor in cities. She chairs the Board of Shack/Slum Dwellers International, a transnational organization that provides membership to federations of the urban poor in 33 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. She also sits on several national and international governing Boards of institutions, advisory committees and task forces working in the area of urban issue. She has extensive grassroots and international experience, has published widely on a variety of urban development topics and serves on a number of Indian and International Boards of non profits.

Dr. David Satterthwaite is a Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Editor of the international journal Environment and Urbanization. He works mainly on poverty reduction and has been contributing to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 1998. In 2004, he was awarded the Volvo Environment Prize. His books published by Earthscan include Squatter Citizen (with Jorge Hardoy), 1989, The Earthscan Reader on Sustainable Cities, 1998, Environmental Problems in an Urbanizing World (with Jorge Hardoy and Diana Mitlin), 2001; and Adapting Cities to Climate Change (co-editor with Jane Bicknell and David Dodman), 2009.

Jean-Jacques Moineville is Delegate General Director at the head office (general management) of the Agence Française de Développement since June 2011. In 1986, he joined the Caisse Centrale de Coopération Economique (former Agence Française de Développement) where he held several positions in Paris and in Kinshasa. He was then appointed (detached from the AFD) as General Secretary for Real Estate in New Caledonia, then as Chief Executive Officer for Real Estate in Guadeloupe, before being adviser to the cabinet of Jean-Jacques Queyranne and then Christian Paul, Secretary of State for Overseas. Director for Western Africa of the AFD from 2002 on, he was appointed as Director to Sub-Saharan Africa, before becoming Executive Director in charge of the Operations in 2008. Jean-Jacques Moineville is a civil engineer from “Ponts et Chaussées”.

Lorraine Mangonès has been director of the Foundation Knowledge and Freedom (FOKAL) since 2008. Before that, she used to be deputy Director for 13 years. Born in Port-au-Prince Haiti in 1959, she went on studying Theater and Communications at the University in England, before going to the United States and Canada. From 1982 to 1986, she held a position in Public Relations at the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) in New York before working for the Cultural Direction of the French Institute. Back to Haiti since 1986, she has taught at the University and has worked in various fields such as education, the arts, culture and development.

Virginie Rachmuhl is a sociologist and a town-planner. Since 2001, she is in charge of the urban programs at the GRET (Professionals of Solidarity Development), an association for solidarity and international cooperation. She contributed to leading projects for working-class housing and redevelopment of precarious living areas in Cuba, Brazil and Mauritania. She also led several preoperational evaluation and impact studies in Mauritania, Morocco, Panama and Cambodia. She is currently working on writing a book about social and economic support of the operations for alleviating precarious housing in Africa, based on 4 experiences Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Rwanda (copublication GRET and UN-Habitat). From 1994 to 2001, she worked as a consultant for ACT-Habitat, where she mainly worked on the issues of housing and city policy in France. From 1999 to 2000, she was a founding member of and coordinator for RESOL, a network of independent experts for social transformation and united development.

Mauricio Pérez Salazar received a diploma in business management from the University of Eafit in Medellin (Columbia) as well as a Master in Peace and Conflict from the University of Sidney (Australia) and a Master in Economics from College Queen Mary at the University of London (England). He was administrative and financial Director at the building firm Conhogar S.A, before becoming financial Adviser at B.F Boutique Financiera and stockbroker at the firm Hernando and Arturo Escobar. He was Director of the Bank for Opportunities (local program of micro-loans), before becoming Secretary for Social Development and Financial Secretary for the city of Medellin, while Sergio Fajardo Valderrama and Alonso Salazar Jaramillo were in office.

Cyprien Aholou is currently Project Manager for the Implementation of the Urban Development Strategy in Grand Lomé (CDS Greater Lomé). M. Aholou is a sociologist and has a Ph.D in Town planning and Development from the University Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense. As a researcher and a teacher at the Universities of Lomé (Togo) and of Abomey-Calavi (Benin), he has written several articles.

Dr. Bhàrat Dahiya is a Human Settlements Officer at the Bangkok Office of UN-HABITAT, the “city agency” of the United Nations system. He completed his doctoral research on urban governance and environment at the University of Cambridge. Bharat co-authored a book, Urban Environment and Infrastructure: Toward Livable Cities (with Anthony G. Bigio, 2004), on the first systematic review of the World Bank’s investments in improving urban liveability. More recently, he conceptualized and coordinated UN-HABITAT’s first-ever State of Asian Cities 2010/11 Report (2010). Bharat’s research and professional work have been focused on urban poverty, urban governance, environment and climate change. Working with UN-HABITAT currently and the World Bank previously, he has initiated several innovative projects aimed at developing effective partnerships between civil society organizations and urban local governments, and finding locally-suited solutions to development problems. For his contributions to the sustainable urban development in Mongolia, Bharat has been awarded by the Government of Mongolia and the Municipal Government of Ulaanbaatar City.

Focal person for « Urban Projects and essential services », Agence Française de Développement Guillaume Josse has been a Policy Officer at Groupe Huit (a firm for town planning studies) before becoming a project manager at the Conseil général de l’Essonne within the Direction for town and country planning. Since 2004, he has been a Project Manager at the Agence Française de Développement. He is currently the focal person for « Urban Projects and essential services ». G. Josse is a town planning engineer. He received a Master in Town Planning from the French Institute of Town Planning at University of Paris VIII and a Master in Urban Development from the University of Paris I.

Currently deputy Director of the water and sanitation division at the Agence Française de Développement, Ms. Etienne started working for the AFD in 1998 within the division in charge of water and sanitation projects. She spent 7 years working at BURGEAP (International Division) on rural and semi-urban water supply projects in various sub-saharian African countries. She received a Ph.D in water sciences and technique from ENPC. Janique Etienne is currently coordinating a two-year study implemented by LEREPS (University of Toulouse) which focuses on improving the conditions of access to water and alleviating poverty in precarious living areas.

After being an environmental adviser to local public authorities for several years, Olivier Gilbert has been in charge of operational responsibilities in various public services whose management has been transferred to Veolia. He, therefore, headed the division for Sanitation of the department Hauts de Seine from 1995 to 2001. He was, subsequently, Director for Sanitation for Veolia Water (Morocco) before becoming Director for Sustainable Development of Veolia Water Africa, Middle East and India. He managed Veolia Water activities regarding environmental management and development of the access to basic services for low-income people, as well as impact-evaluating programs on human development. Director for Social Innovations at Veolia Environnement since 2010, he is in charge of developing and coordinating the group’s expertise in order to adapt the services of water, waste management, transportation and energy to the needs of poor people in areas where Veolia is active, as well as in order to develop the access to these essential services.
 

Arba Jules Ouedraogo, a hydraulic and environmental engineer, has been working for the National Office forWater and Sanitation (ONEA) of Burkina Faso since 1987. From 2001 to 2006, he was Director of Sanitation, then Technical Adviser until 2009 before his appointment as Inspector of Services at the ONEA at the beginning of 2011. Mr. Ouedraogo has a great experience in the field of urban sanitation in Africa, particularly in the conception as well as in the implementation of strategic planning for sanitation in cities. Often invited to participate in symposiums and international forums, he has written many papers on the financing and demand-developing strategies on sanitation (collective and individual).