Clarissa Brocklehurst
Since April 2007, Ms. Clarissa Brocklehurst has been providing professional leadership as the Chief of UNICEF’s Water, Environment and Sanitation Section. In this role she serves as the organisation’s focal point for knowledge and exchange on issues relating to water, sanitation, hygiene and environment. She develops and maintains advocacy links with all major development agencies, academic institutions and NGOs active in this field. She advises and provides technical support at global, regional and country level for the development and implementation of strategies.
Prior to this appointment, Ms. Brocklehurst was a consultant in water and sanitation based in Ottawa, Canada. She has worked for a variety of clients including the World Bank, the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Building Partnerships for Development (BPD) and WaterAid.
Ms. Brocklehurst started her career with research into the water and sanitation needs of aboriginal communities in Canada. She was a public health engineering consultant with Cowater International Inc. in Ottawa, Canada between 1986 and 1987 and then worked overseas as a Technical Adviser for Small Sanitation Projects on a CIDA-financed rural water and sanitation project in Togo from 1987 to 1989. She returned to Cowater International between 1989 and 1996, and during that time was posted to Sri Lanka for two years on a project to plan rural water and sanitation investments. In 1997 she was appointed the Country Representative for WaterAid in Bangladesh, serving in that country for two and a half years, working on a mix of rural and urban programmes. Ms. Brocklehurst then became the Regional Urban Specialist for the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) at their Regional Office for South Asia in New Delhi, India, returning to Canada in August 2001.
Ms. Brocklehurst is a national of Canada and Great Britain. She studied Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto (1979-1985) where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in 1983 and Master’s Degree in 1985.
E-mail: cbrocklehurst[at]unicef.org