Laura Vargas (WASH)

Laura Vargas, PhD

Programme Manager, Latin America and the Caribbean Water and Sanitation

Laura is a Programme Manager in the Water and Sanitation Department of Latin America and the Caribbean. She has 15 years of experience in the WASH sector, contributing to the design, implementation and evaluation of basic sanitation projects.

Prior to joining SIWI, she worked at the Interamerican Development Bank, supporting Technical Cooperation and Loans Programmes in Brazil.

She spent five years with the Bogotá Aqueduct Company working in the Bogota River Sanitation Programme and three years as a professor for the Faculty of Environmental and Rural Studies at the Pontifical Xavierian University, in Colombia. Her research focuses on how to provide affordable WASH services within the human rights framework. She holds a PhD in Sanitation, Environmental and Water Resources from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil and a MsC in Civil Engineering from Los Andes University, Colombia. She speaks Spanish,