Biography

Sushmita joined IWA in March 2015 and is based out of New Delhi, India. As Programme Manager, she is responsible for the India Programme at IWA. Currently she is involved in developing a groundwater governance strategy, and addressing water loss in urban utilities in the region. She also manages the Asia-Pacific Water Safety Planning Network for IWA. A graduate from Cambridge University, UK, and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India, she comes with 15 years of work experience in the environment and development sector in South Asia working with communities, conservation and governance across land and waterscapes. She has worked closely with government institutions and programmes, civil society, academia and media. She has handled interdisciplinary research on human-landscape interactions in India, Bangladesh and Uganda using participatory tools for research.  She brings on board interdisciplinary expertise on institutions, networks and natural resource governance.

Below Sushmita Mandal sets the context for the Groundwater Workshop that happened in India in 2016.