Jasveen Jairath

Jasveen Jairath is an independent consultant and researcher-advocate with a focus on the politics of water practice and policy, and Regional Coordinator of Capnet, South Asia. She graduated in Electrical Engineering and later shifted to Ecoomics with a Masters in Political Economy from the New School for Social Research, New York, and a Ph.D. from the Centre for Economics Studies and Planning, JNU, New Delhi. She has been engaged with research, advocacy, networking and capacity building in the water sector through her tenures at government and non-government organisations. Through her specific field studies in Punjab, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, she has highlighted the social context of water to question technocratic and reductionist interpretations of the mainstream water discourse. Critical interventions in the policy debates on large dams, droughts and institutional reforms have been followed by the design and implementation of hands-on experimental water projects on the governance of urban water and sanitation systems in Madhya Pradesh. She has also been involved with institution building as the Project Director of Saciwaters for the first four years. She has been associated with initiating and establishing Capacity Building Networks in South Asia (Cap-net) as part of a global UNDP-promoted initiative for promoting IWRM. As a consultant, she has undertaken various assignments for the World Bank, NORAD, ADB and UNICEF, and has worked for bilateral donor-funded projects as a participatory strategy specialist. An active member of Global Water Partnerships at the regional level, she has been on the Board of Governor of World Water Council.