Candidates Europe & Central Asia
Judith Maréchal
Short Bio
Judith Maréchal is dedicated to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in cold and altitude regions, a topic that has led her to live and work in Nepal, Greenland, Canada/Nunavik, Denmark and Norway. She holds a PhD on water supply in rural Greenland, and is now looking to develop solutions for WASH in cold and altitude regions that are both sustainable and culturally appropriate. She has long looked to develop a network of expertise on the topic to foster knowledge exchange and collaboration between regions sharing similar constraints, and as such is now Co-lead of the Cold Climate Sanitation segment of SuSanA.
Motivation/Commitment to the GSC
WASH is central to achieving almost all SDGs, and, despite this, consistently lagging behind on its targets. Cold and mountain regions are particularly challenging when it comes to water and waste management, and often overlooked in development work. I want to focus on those regions, and find solutions that will be suited for their specific context. One Health, circularity and knowledge co-production must be integral parts of designing these systems. I believe that the more challenging and overlooked regions could very well end up being the champions of sustainable development in the future.
Links to personal website, social media
Postdoc -
Université Laval, Dept. of Civil and Water Engineering
Dorothee Spuhler
Short Bio
I am a sustainable sanitation and water management expert working at the science to practice interface. I hold a MSc in Environmental Engineering, a PhD in urban water management, and a CAS in development cooperation. I started my career working in a GIZ funded Ecosan Project in Burkina Faso. I then became in 2008 a member of SuSanA and worked from 2009 on as consultant doing project management and capacity development at individual and institutional level resulting in the www.sswm.info toolbox. Since 2010 I am also co-leading the SuSanA working group on capacity development. Currently I work at the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST) as a lecturer and coordinator of the global south cooperation platform (www.ost.ch/gsc-en). I develop curricula for interdisciplinary teaching, international trainings and capacity development in a broader sense. Furthermore, I lead research on technology and decision support tools always around the topic of sustainable sanitation and water managment. The aim is facilitating the design and implementation of locally appropriate, socially accepted, and circular water and sanitation systems for global sustainable development.
I have also co-founded VaLoo, the Swiss Network for Circular Sanitation in 2020 and since then act as executive board member and lead for knowledge & awareness. I am also an active member of the Swiss CoP Aguasan. Besides all this I am teaching at university level and facilitating further education activities. My diverse network both locally and globally helps me to connect research with practice and people around the globe.
Motivation/Commitment to the GSC
Today, the sanitation sector is at an inflection point. The SuSanA network can play a central role through advocacy, as a knowledge and exchange hub and as a sounding board. We have to maintain and guide the community to enable the paradigm shift and ensure that sustainable sanitation is not only a buzzword, but that viable technical, social, financial, and legal solutions are made available.
As a member of the GSC, I will contribute to the steering of the network to ensure its utility, effectiveness and long-term sustainability and widely disseminate the products (publications, innovations etc) generated by SuSanA and its members.
Is there anything else you would like to say to the SuSanA community?
I became a member of SuSanA from the first day on when I was still a student in 2008. This network as significantly influenced my professional development conceptually and practically. And I also had the chance to provide important content and strategic contributions to the network as member of the SuSanA core group. I have devoted my professional live to contributing to sustainable sanitation for global development. SuSanA has been and hopefully will be an important platform to carry out my mission in collaboration with others.
Since 2008, much has happened. While climate change has become a reality, sustainable sanitation is established in the SDGs, technical innovations are finding their way into practice, and the potential of non-sewered sanitation to cope future water, climate and nutrient crises has been mainstreamed.
This development is directly reflected by different national networks in Europe for sustainable sanitation such as VaLoo. While sustainable sanitation has become mainstream, the first mission of SuSanA is accomplished. But this network is more needed than ever to provide evidence, information, knowledge, and tools to support the implementation in practice.
It would be an honour to continue working with the network and to offer my time, my experience, and my network to ensure that this vibrant and relevant community continuous influencing the sector.
Links to personal website, social media
SuSanA Working Group 1 on Capacity Development
Lecturer and Senior Researcher & Member of the Board, Lead Knowledge and Awareness -
Eawag & VaLoo
