Catarina Fonseca is trained as an economist and has a doctoral degree in water sciences. She has over twenty-three years of experience in development cooperation and non-profits of which twenty in the water and sanitation sector. She has pioneered sector development on the understanding of life-cycle costs and financing. She was the WASHCost Director (2008-2013), a large-scale initiative to identify the long-term costs of sustaining rural and peri-urban water and sanitation services. She has been part of the IRC management team and managed the International and Innovation programme from 2012-2019.
Catarina Fonseca was the Director of Watershed, a 5-year strategic programme that run from 2016-2020 to strengthen the ability of citizens to hold governments and service providers accountable for the services they deliver. She is an Associate of IRC and is available for consultancy assignments. Over the past 20 years she has trained, assessed, evaluated and provided technical support to over 50 clients. Since 2019 she has her own company, Pulsing Tide.
A short review of the existing landscape of international financial flows to the water sector, with specific focus on climate finance. Read more...
This working paper unpacks what is meant by the enabling environment for finance in WASH and presents real examples of how these bottlenecks are... Read more...
This whitepaper reveals that $310 billion a year is wasted on bad water and sanitation services and proposes steps to reverse the cycle of decline. Read more...
Ministers of Finance should increase funding for the enabling environment, make more use of micro and blended finance, and address the inequities in... Read more...
This global review explores the strengths and weaknesses of integrity in the water sector. It provides examples of innovative programmes and tools... Read more...
The growth of inequality is a major threat to prosperity and stability. Government leadership and government investment is needed to provide water and sanitation services to the poor. Read more...