Team

Partnerships

Peter van der Linde, co-founder and co-director

Peter is a co-founder of Akvo and has directed partner relationships since autumn 2006. Combining considerable field experience with a large contact network, he is a 'connector' between governmental organisations, corporates, NGOs and knowledge institutes. Peter leads Akvo's funding and implementation deals with international development institutions, banks, companies, implementation NGOs and other investors. He ensures that Akvo's first tools meet the needs of our initial investor and implementation NGO partners. Previously a programme manager at the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP), he combines technical knowledge of water management with the ability to mobilise an extensive, high level network of water and sanitation changemakers across the world. He has an MSc in integrated water management and disaster studies from Wageningen University. Follow Peter on Twitter @petervdl.

Kathelyne van den Berg, programme manager

Kathelyne coordinates activity with support, field and funding partners. She helps Akvo scale its partner relationships smoothly, expanding the number and quality of projects in the system and helping partners understand what is possible. She also leads Akvo's participation in the Connect4Change consortium. She has a background in the supervision and auditing of water management programmes. Before joining Akvo, Kathelyne was an inspector and auditor at the Inspectorate Transport and Water Management (IVW) where she analysed results and informed and advised policymakers and adminstrators in central government. She has an MSc and BSc in International Land and Water Management from Wageningen University and has worked on awareness-raising around irrigation and watershed management in field situations in Peru, Bangladesh and Jordan. You can find her on Twitter @kathelyne and she's based in our Amsterdam office.

Luuk Diphoorn, project coordinator

Luuk coordinates Akvo's project activities with our NGO partners across the world. This includes identifying appropriate projects to upload to the Akvo system, gathering the relevant content from each organisation and sharing regular updates. He is also a lead producer and reporter for WaterCube, our video channel profiling people and issues in the water and sanitation sector. Luuk graduated in 2007 with an MA in International Development Studies from the University of Utrecht. Having grown up in Burundi, Burkina Faso, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, he has worked on several international development programmes including the World Water Dome in Johannesburg (2002) and a project to assess environmental impact at the IWMI in Colombo in Sri Lanka (06/07). You can find Luuk on Twitter at: @luukdiphoorn

Mark Tiele Westra, Akvopedia editor and programme manager

Mark maintains the high quality standards of Akvopedia and organises the online community which feeds it, adding and improving content and helping others do the same. He also leads Akvo's role in the WASH Consortium and a number of other partner consulting projects. He combines technical knowledge on sustainable, simple water technology with broad technical editorial experience. Studying physics and philosophy of technology at Technical University of Twente, he holds a PhD in physics from the Eindhoven Technical University. Previously head of communciation of a Dutch scientific institute working on nuclear fusion, he also led communications for the European Fusion programme and international fusion experiment, ITER. On the Working Group on Development Techniques (WOT), at University of Twente, he develops and disseminates knowledge of simple technology for using wind, water and solar power in developing countries. He has conducted technical training on rope pumps in Nicaragua and Tanzania. He joined Akvo at the end of 2008. Mark talks more about his role in this video interview. Follow him on Twitter @mtwestra.

Frodo van Oostveen, programme manager

Frodo runs Akvo's relationships with corporate and foundation partners, including business and consumer brands. He has extensive experience as a project manager in events, public affairs, marketing and communication. He worked at ABN AMRO bank for seven years. He was public relations and event manager for Team ABN AMRO in the Volvo Ocean Race, where he managed non-stop, for 11 months, marketing and events at each port of call on the 2005/6 race, and was corporate hospitality manager the following year. He later became a business manager in ABN AMRO's global public affairs team, reviewing sponsorship and stakeholder partnerships and developing new sports-related initiatives. In 2010 he joined the Netherlands Water Partnership as senior program manager, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, developing "Water2020", a strategic vision for the Dutch water sector. He has an MBA from Radboud University Nijmegen. His bachelors degree is in Marketing and Commercial Economics from Tilburg University, where he majored in sports marketing and management. In 2008 Frodo was nominated and selected as "Young Professional of the Year" in the Netherlands (Volkskrant). Follow Frodo on Twitter @frodo1977.

Amitangshu Acharya, consultant, Asian programmes

Amitangshu combines an extensive academic background with hands-on experience managing development projects at field level. He has a Master of Science in Environment, Culture and Society (with Distinction) from the University of Edinburgh, UK, and a Master of Arts in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India. Prior to his MSc he worked as a project officer for Arghyam, the highly-regarded Indian development organisation focused on water and sanitation. Here he selected, coordinated and evaluated water, sanitation and hygiene projects across nine states in India. He was a programme associate of the National Resource Management Division of Winrock International India (WII) where he worked on issues including agricultural pollution, urban wastewater, landscape and livelihood, and ecosystem services. He also worked as a project officer for a UNDP and MoRD project facilitating women's group formation and forest and common land management committees. He is based in Bangalore.

Laura Roverts, project officer

Laura has master and bachelor's degrees in International Development Studies from Wageningen University. She's worked as a researcher in the department of San Marcos, Guatemala, studying living with risk of natural disaster, where she also studied Spanish. In Sierra Leone, she worked with iEARN, a local NGO assisting former child soldiers and amputees. There she conducted interviews and made documentaries, and supported reintegration programmes such as computer classes and music, theatre and assertiveness workshops. Recently she has worked as a programme coordinator at Ayni Bolivia, a Bolivian NGO focused on poverty reduction and equality, and was an assistant at the Municipal of Utrecht's naturalisation office. She was a finalist in the Vodafone World of Difference 2010 competition. She's on Twitter @lauraroverts.

Lissy van Noort, project officer

Lissy helps coordinate the partner team's events activity, ranging from international development conferences to the more quirky and interesting opportunities we encounter. She also helps manage the portfolio of projects that Akvo is bringing online with the Connect4Change consortium. Lissy joined Akvo at the end of 2011, having recently completed a masters degree in Socialisation and Youth Policies at Utrecht University, where she majored in Education, Youth and International Cooperation and Aid. She's spent time conducting local research In Uganda on parental participation in education and has worked for NGOs including SNV Uganda and Edukans. She also worked at our neighbours, the 1%CLUB. Follow Lissy on Twitter @lissyvn.

PR and communications

Mark Charmer, co-founder and communications director

Mark joined Akvo in autumn 2006 and directs its communications. Akvo has a unique opportunity to talk more openly and directly than previous development sector projects. He ensures we tell the Akvo story in a discoverable way, inspiring audiences while managing expectations. He also improves how we describe ourselves to key groups. Mark is the producer of WaterCube.tv, our unique video channel profiling people and issues in international development. Mark has a Masters degree in Design from Central St Martins College and a BSc in Management Studies from Aston University. He brings 18 years experience running international communications for companies such as HP, Compaq, Dell and Apple and was a senior advisor to world top 3 PR agency Hill & Knowlton for eight years. He is managing director of The Movement Design Bureau, a think tank that researches advanced design related to cities, mobility, development and collaboration. He is based in London. Follow Mark on Twitter @charmermark.

Jo Pratt, communications manager

Jo has worked in marketing and communications in both the IT and non-profit sectors. For seven years, she was at Firefly Communications, a highly-regarded British technology PR agency. Joining as a graduate trainee she ascended to account director within three and a half years. At Firefly she represented clients including COLT Telecom, The Core Trust, FT.com, Lucent Technology, Reuters Business Information, Sequent, TDK, Vodafone and the World Internet Forum. She later led the company's expansion into Europe, establishing its French and German operations. Jo then moved into the charities sector. She was PR manager at People Tree, a fair trade and ecological fashion company, led media relations for Cafédirect's Teadirect Decent Dance, in Trafalgar Square, London and worked for the Fairtrade Foundation. She has advised Help the Hospices since 2005, conducting marketing and PR related to the charity's international work. Jo has a BA in French and Russian from the University of Nottingham.