Ms. Cecilia Martinsen

Ms. Martinsen joined SIWI in 2006 as the multi-talented Project Director of SIWI’s Capacity Building unit and is now the Director of the World Water Week and Water Prizes. Her areas of expertise include: sanitation and hygiene issues, training and professional development, international sales, and social marketing. Fluent in Swedish, English, French and Spanish; Ms. Martinsen has extensive experience working internationally in regions ranging from South America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa.

In addition to leading numerous water, sanitation, and development advocacy activities, as the Director of the World Water Week and Water Prizes Ms. Martinsen is leading of operating and developing the World Water Week and the distinguished Prizes and Awards administered by SIWI.

Previous Experience

Starting her career in the private sector, Ms. Martinsen has led projects in South America, the Middle East, and Europe before changing focus from media and telecommunications to water supply, sanitation and hygiene. Since then, she has worked for the Water and Sanitation Programme of the World Bank (WSP) at the Regional Office in Dakar, Senegal, and at the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) secretariat in Geneva.

Applying her experiences in marketing, sales, and communications in the private sector, Ms. Martinsen’s working passion is to adapt and use commercial tools and strategies for development purposes.
She has expertise in social marketing, strategic planning and communication, and public-private partnerships, all key areas in the successful implementation of sanitation and hygiene projects.
Further, she has worked extensively to advocate the importance of sanitation and hygiene through international and regional initiatives and processes.

Her previous experiences from both private and public sectors in developing countries, working with governments, civil society, UN agencies and the World Bank has increased her strong belief that building human and institutional capacities in developing countries is essential to sustainable development and economic growth.

Key Current and Previous Projects

• Development and operation of the World Water Week in Stockholm ¨
• Coordination of the Prize and Awards department (inc. the Stockholm Water Prize, the Stockholm Industry Water Award, the Stockholm Junior Water Prize, the Swedish Junior Water Prize and the Swedish Baltic Sea Water Award)
• Development of SIWI’s Capacity Building activities
• Management and development of a series of International Training Programmes in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), including: Global IWRM, French speaking West-Africa region and Zambezi river riparian countries
• Management and development of a series of International Training Programmes in Transboundary Water Management (TWM), including: Global TWM, Lake Victoria region and the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region
• Coordinating of SIWI strategic activities and contributions to the United Nations International Year of Sanitation 2008
• Developing and implementing The Global WASH (Water and Sanitation and Hygiene for All ) advocacy campaign
• Management and development of communication and advocacy activities in the West African region for the Water and Sanitation programme (WSP) of the World Bank
• Team member of the Africa Sanitation team of the WSP with a special focus on sanitation marketing
• Supporting the World Bank Public Private Partnership for Handwashing in Senegal and a member of the Steering Committee at Global level
• Management and development of marketing and public relations activities for Ericsson Telecom in the South American markets
• Development and facilitation of ‘value based selling- approaches’ workshops for Ericsson Telecom sales team in the South American markets
• Management of editorial supplements on development and investment opportunities in a number of developing countries for major European and US news papers