about me

Paul van Beers, co-founder of FairWater, is the program manager of the FairWater Trust Fund Projects, he holds a M.Sc. in Environmental Hydrology & Hydrogeology and has a vast international background and professional contacts based on 30 years of research and project management in Rural & Peri-Urban Water Supply, Hydrology and Environmental projects in Burkina Faso, Mauretania, Mozambique, Kenya, Angola, Benin, Chad, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia, Ethiopia, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia, Tanzania, Brazil and Oman.

After completing his studies in Geographical Hydrology, Remote Sensing and Geophysics, he started his professional career in Portugal (Hydro-geological studies in coastal aquifers 1980 - 1984). In 1985 he moved to Africa, Burkina Faso & Mauretania, mainly working in Rural Water Supply, and part-time bush pilot and flying instructor. To keep in touch with the new developments in The Netherlands, he returned in 1994 to work as project manager in environmental projects.

In 1996 he signed up as Country Director Mozambique for the Dutch NGO SaWa, worked at the Mozambican Water Department and was involved in many studies, such as "Capacity & Willingness to pay" in rural and urban areas for the WorldBank. To see and learn more of the water projects in other African countries, he worked from 1998 to 2001 as individual consultant all over Africa for NGOs and the WorldBank. Focus of these studies was how to arrive at sustainable rural water supply, involving all aspects and stakeholders.

A new phase started when he was asked to lead the RWD program, one of the largest rural water projects in Kisii, western Kenya. His last long term assignment was in Angola, as WatSan Advisor to the Government up to 2006. Since 2007 he has been fully committed to develop the BlueZone concept with the reliable BluePump and to start with the FairWater Foundation in order to improve the sustainability of handpump water projects in Africa.

He is a member of the Dutch NEDWORC ''Consultants for Development Foundation'' and also a founding board member of Global Rainwater Harvesting Collective and has worked for Universities, Consultancy firms, The World Bank and National and International NGOs.
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