Through discussion and participative processes, participants will gain an understanding of:

• The evolving landscape of development and environmental finance and its opportunities for water investment.
• Systemic barriers to private sector investment in water security and adaptation, along with leverage points we can lift together to unlock additional finance.
• The principles and tenets of the regeneration approach and its potential to inspire our rethinking and redesigning of financing strategies.
• The pillars of emerging financing opportunities: blended finance, impact investing, outcome based aid and next generation of public-private-civil society partnerships.
• Strengthening the investment case for water within a broader development-climate-social justice-nature theory of change.

02:00 – 02:10 pm 

Welcome & opening 

Carlos Garriga, Director of the We Are Water Foundation

02:10 – 02:25  pm

Keynotes: scene-setting

A systems approach to the sanitation challenge: lessons learned

Nouria Ouibrahim, Programme Director & Sajib Mahanta, WASH Expert, WASTE

The regeneration paradigm, bridging global goals with local needs

Mónica Altamirano de Jong, Founder, ALTAMIRA Regenerative Finance

02:25 – 02:50 pm

Panel discussion. Unlocking finance for water: from barriers to breakthroughs

As the landscape of development and environmental finance rapidly evolves, this panel invites participants to rethink water investment strategies through a systemic and regenerative lens. After a short discussion on barriers to private sector engagement, the discussion will focus on identifying leverage points and pioneering experiences and go on to highlight practical breakthroughs—such as blended finance, outcome-based partnerships, and cross-sector collaboration for investment origination—that can strengthen the investment case for water at the intersection of climate, social justice, and nature.

Moderated discussion ending on Q&A from participants

Veronica Sánchez Da Cruz Rios, President-Director, Agência Nacional de Águas e Saneamento Básico (ANA)  (TBC)

Carlos Velázquez, Service & Sustainability Senior Managing Director, ROCA GROUP

Simeon Kenfack, Programs and Professional Development Director, AfWASA

Bernd Schönewald, Senior Sector Economist at the competence center for Water and Sanitation of KfW Development Bank

Moderated by Mónica Altamirano de Jong, Founder, ALTAMIRA Regenerative Finance

02:50 – 3:20pm

Breakout groups

Moderated by session convenors and members of the RETHINKING coalition active across different water sector niches, these breakout groups offer a space to reflect, question, and co-create. Building on the panel, each discussion will explore how to move from barriers to breakthroughs in navigating the evolving global finance architecture—focusing on concrete challenges and opportunities within the water sector.

These are brave spaces to RETHINK and REIMAGINE the economic, governance, and financing frameworks that shape water investments. Through a systems lens and regenerative design principles, we will explore how multi-sectoral public-private-people partnerships can unlock greater value, impact, and capital—accelerating the scale, speed, and quality of investments needed to achieve SDG 6.

• Table 1 – Achieving universal access – Water and Sanitation Finance, moderatd by Wahida Anjoom, Country Coordinator Bangladesh, FINISH Mondial
• Table 2 – Water Stewardship and Collective Action – Corporate leadership and Public-Private collaboration, moderated by Carlos Velázquez, Service & Sustainability Senior Managing Director, ROCA GROUP
• Table 3 – An enabling environment for impact investing, moderated by Kitch Bawa, Executive Secretary, Pan-African Association of Sanitation Actors
• Table 4 – Water as a global common good. Water in Agriculture, moderated by, Raúl Muñoz Castillo, Lead Global Technical Specialist, Water and Rural Infrastructure, IFAD
• Table 5 – Just Water Partnerships, moderated by Lesley Pories, Lead Policy Analyst, WASH Finance, WaterAid.

03:20 – 03:25 pm

Reporting back: insights from group discussions

03:25 – 03:30 pm

Closing remarks

Our panel of speakers includes:

Carlos Velázquez

Sustainability & Service Senior Managing Director ROCA GROUP

After getting his degree in Economics and Business Administration at the UAB, he began working at the international audit group, Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC). After two years as an auditor of PWC, he joined the team of the Internal Audit Department of the Roca Group.

Carlos Velazquez has worked for Roca for 30 years and during all this time he has held different positions in several countries: Internal Auditor in the headquarters (Barcelona), Controller in Roca Maroc (Morocco), Administrative Director of Roca Torneiras (Portugal) and CFO in the subsidiary of the Roca Group in the USA. Later, after three years in the USA, he came back to Barcelona to lead the Corporate Controlling Department until he was transferred to Bulgaria in 2005 as Managing Director of Roca Bulgaria, from where he returned to the headquarters in Barcelona in 2008, to lead the creation and further development of the Corporate Marketing Department of the Roca Group until the end of 2019, when he took the position of Director of Sustainability and Institutional Relations of the Roca Group. In 2025 Carlos, which is a member of the Roca Group Executive Committee, holds the position of Service & Sustainability Senior Managing Director.

In addition to his responsibilities at Roca, Carlos Velázquez is a member of the Board of Trustees of the University School of Design and Engineering of Barcelona (ELISAVA), Board member of the European Association for the Taps and Valves Industry (CEIR), Vice President of the Spanish National Association of Taps and Valves Manufacturers (Agrival), Chairman of the Marketing Working Group of the European Sanitaryware Producers Federation (FECS) and President of the Unified Water Label Association (UWLA).

Carlos Garriga

Director We Are Water Foundation

Degree in Business Administration and Management from the University of Barcelona, with a postgraduate degree in Protocol from UPF. He has developed most of his professional career in the field of communication, working for various agencies and companies such as the Roca Group or the RBA Editorial. In 2010, he began working as Project Manager, being responsible for coordinating the projects carried out by the Foundation together with international organizations such as Unicef, Oxfam Intermon or World Vision International; as well as various awareness initiatives worldwide.

Mónica Altamirano de Jong

PhD, Founder ALTAMIRA

Specialist in Public-Private Partnerships and Systems Thinker. Founder of ALTAMIRA, a boutique consulting firm driving the uptake of regenerative finance through systems thinking, consortium partner NetworkNature (the EU Platform of Platforms on NbS). Independent Director/Board Member CAEI, a group of commercial entities dedicated to the agro-industry managed by Putney Capital Management. Strategic Advisor on Finance and Partnerships for Water for the UN Economic Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow. With over 20 years of global experience advising governments, MDBs and impact investors on how to catalyze private sector investments in infrastructure, and the climate-water-nature nexus, she is a thought leader in climate finance and resilient infrastructure. Monica is passionate about making a just transition to a regenerative economy financially feasible and partners with public and private sector pioneers in driving a paradigm shift towards a mission-driven approach in infrastructure investment planning.

Sajib Mahanta

WASH Expert,  WASTE

With a background in Water Governance from IHE Delft in the Netherlands, Sajib brings over 5 years of experience working on WASH projects with a strong focus on monitoring and evaluation (M&E). At WASTE, he now leads M&E and Gender Equality and Social Inclusion efforts for impact across six countries in Africa and Asia under the FINISH Mondial programme. His work blends data-driven programme management with a systems approach and a deep commitment to intersectionality in delivering inclusive basic services like water and sanitation.

Nouria Ouibrahim

Programme Director,  WASTE

Nouria’s expertise was built over the last 20 years. Her experience spans all facets of society from private enterprise, entrepreneurial, and to public institutions. Nouria leads the implementation of WASTE’s FINISH Mondial programme in Africa and Asia. Prior to this, she has been policy adviser within different governmental institutions, to independent consultant in different sectors e.g. water, agriculture, logistics, port development and energy. Nouria is eager to develop a North-South bridge. She created a start-up “LinkedInAfrica” to contribute to transfer of know-how to Africa, by introducing innovative solutions in various sectors based on Dutch expertise and by strengthening international cooperation.

Veronica Sánchez Da Cruz Rios

President-Director, Agência Nacional de Águas e Saneamento Básico (ANA)

Civil servant of the Ministry of Economics as a Public Policies and Government Management specialist since 2009. Served at the Assistance of Articulation and Monitoring to the Presidency Chief of Staff Office, from 2014 to 2016. She has worked as General Coordinator of Oil and Gas in the Brazilian Growth Acceleration Program at the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management. Between 2016 and 2018, she was Special Advisor to the Civil Office of the Presidency, at the coordination of Strategic Reforms for the Federal Government.

In 2019, she acted as Special Secretary for Federative Affairs at the Government Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, having also acted as Deputy Secretary-General to the Investment Partnership Program. The following year, she became leader of Articulation and Monitoring to the Presidency Chief of Staff Office. Secretary at the Ministry of Regional Development secretariat of Partnerships with the Private Sector until April of 2022, when she was named President-Director of the National Water and Sanitation Agency of Brazil – ANA.

Simeon Kenfack

Programs and Professional Development Director, AfWASA

Dr Simeon Kenfack graduated PhD, MSc, MSc at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. Prior to that, he hold a MAS in Sanitary engineering at 2iE Burkina Faso and a Bachelor of Engineering in process engineering from Cameroon. He is currently working as the Director of Programmes and Professional Development at the African Water and Sanitation Association (AfWASA) since 2015 whereas he joined in 2013 as the Water Operator’s Partnerships Program Coordinator for Africa.

Prior to AfWASA, Dr Kenfack worked as WASH Advisor for International Rescue Committee within the Integrated Health Project (IHP) team in DR Congo. Since, 2005, Dr Kenfack worked in Burkina Faso for the Regional Center for water supply and sanitation facilities (CREPA), starting as research group leader and ending as Regional Programs and partnership Manager.

Lesley Pories

Lead Policy Analyst, WASH Finance, WaterAid

Lesley Pories is Policy Lead for Finance at WaterAid, where she explores how more private and public finance can be mobilsed for access to safe drinking water and sanitation in emerging markets. She has spent over a decade in the sector working across the intersection of policy, finance, governance and engagement within Global Water Partnership (GWP), Water.org and the World Bank.

Lesley is a member of the Scientific Programme Committee for Stockholm World Water Week, on the Steering Committee for the Water Initiative for Net Zero (WINZ), and Co-Chair of the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) High-Level Political Dialogue Working Group. She holds a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Masters in International Relations (focusing on international environmental resource policy) from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She is based in London.

Kitchinme “Kitch” Bawa

Executive Secretary, Pan-African Association of Sanitation Actors

“Kitch” Bawa is a dynamic international development professional and WASH specialist with nearly two decades of impact across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. As Executive Secretary of the Pan-Africa Association of Sanitation Actors, he drives strategic partnerships, policy innovation, and resource mobilization for inclusive sanitation. Kitch has shaped national and continental policies, co-led global forums, and advised high-level panels including the African Heads of Governments. Fluent in multiple languages and skilled in uniting diverse stakeholders, he blends strategic vision with grassroots experience—championing solutions that bring safe water and sanitation to millions.

Wahida Anjoom

Country Coordinator Bangladesh, FINISH Mondial

Wahida Anjoom is Country Coordinator for FINISH Mondial Bangladesh and Executive Director of its Foundation. A development practitioner in sanitation finance and systems change, she leads programmes that integrate financial inclusion with market-based sanitation and faecal-sludge management. Wahida designs blended-finance models, supports MFIs to embed sanitation lending, and pilots climate-resilient technologies. An advocate for gender and equity, Wahida embeds inclusion into finance and capacity-building to build resilient, inclusive sanitation systems in Bangladesh.

Raúl Muñoz Castillo

Lead Global Technical Specialist, Water and Rural Infrastructure, IFAD

More than 18 years’ experience working on environmental and water resources management,
with broad international experience working at the private sector, public sector, multilateral organizations and the academia; with a strong focus in water infrastructure and water policy. Currently leading several regional agendas at the IDB as the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Initiative at the IADB, which entails pilot research projects and infrastructure design operations along the Latin America and the Caribbean Region. He is also leading the Water Funds Program, the Bank’s flagship project on green infrastructure and nature-based solutions, the Water Security Strategy and the Bank’s Initiative for Transboundary and International Waters. He has published as lead author and as co-author numerous publications in world class journals on water, sustainability and environmental related issues.

Bernd Schönewald

Senior Sector Economist at the competence center for Water and Sanitation of KfW Development Bank

Bernd has 30 years of work experience in Development Cooperation, out of which 29 years working at KfW. Most of his career he spent in the water sector and was mainly based in Frankfurt, Germany. Before joining the competence center in 2021, he worked as Portfolio Manager in charge of the water sector portfolio of the German Financial Cooperation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Organised by: We Are Water Foundation, ALTAMIRA and WASTE & FINISH Mondial Foundation.

Collaborators: RETHINKING Coalition and Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)