Programme Officer Advocacy - Saskia Castelein
Saskia Castelein was born in Roeselare, Belgium. She holds a degree in International Relations (1999) from the University of Ghent, Belgium and obtained a Masters of Arts in Middle East Politics (2001) from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom.
From 2002 to 2005 she worked for the Division of Water Sciences at UNESCO HQ, initially as an intern and then as a consultant and temporary staff member. She worked as a project officer for the PCCP programme (From Potential Conflict to Cooperation Potential), focusing on prevention and resolution of water related conflicts, and for WWAP (the World Water Assessment Programme) – the UN system-wide assessment project on global freshwater resources.
In 2006, she joined the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) as a Public Information Officer, where she was responsible for drafting and implementing community awareness and information campaigns in the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary elections.
In February 2007 she joined the WSSCC as a programme officer and is currently responsible for communication and advocacy.