Author Biographies

Karen and Sophie’s respective experience is outlined briefly here:

Karen Bakker

Karen Bakker is Director of the Program on Water Governance and an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada). Her work on water governance covers a broad range of issues including private sector participation, municipal utility restructuring, delegated water governance, and water security, issues on which she regularly acts as a consultant for international organizations. A range of policy publications on these topics are available from the Program on Water Governance, whose mandate is to conduct basic research on water management, engage the wider community in outreach and education on water issues, and facilitate dialogue on water governance (www.watergovernance.ca). Recent academic books include /An Uncooperative Commodity: Privatizing Water in England and Wales/ (2004, Oxford University Press) and /Eau Canada: The future of Canada's water/ (2007, University of British Columbia Press). Her forthcoming book /Beyond Privatization: Water, Governance and Citizenship/ (Cornell University Press) is likely to be of interest to Water Dialogues participants.

Sophie Trémolet

Sophie Trémolet is an economist specialised in the infrastructure sector. She works on issues of institutional and regulatory design, private sector participation, mostly in the water and electricity sectors, for a variety of clients including donor agencies, governments, public and private service providers and non-governmental organisations. She consults on issues such as the design and consolidation of regulatory frameworks, reforming market structures, designing innovative financing instruments or introducing private sector participation in a way that tackles the needs of poor customers. She has published numerous papers on the design of pro-poor regulatory arrangements (see for example, Trémolet & Hunt: “Taking Account of the Poor in Water Sector Regulation”, World Bank Water Supply & Sanitation Working Notes, Note No. 11, August 2006, Washington DC http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWSS/Resources/WN11.pdf) and on the financing challenges facing the water and sanitation sector (see for example, Sophie Trémolet, Rachel Cardone, Carmen da Silva, Catarina Fonseca: “Innovations in Financing Urban Water and Sanitation”, Center for Sustainable Urban Development, July 1-6 2007 http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/csud/documents/Final%20Papers/Week%
201/Week1_Finance_IRC.pdf)