2025 UNC Water and Health Conference: Science, Policy and Practice -- Oct. 27-31, 2025 · Chapel Hill, NC

The Water Institute at UNC is happy to share that Styvers Kathuni will be joining the 2025 UNC Water and Health Conference lineup of plenary speakers! This fourth and final plenary, Measuring Climate Resilience in WASH: From Indicators to Impact, scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, will feature Styvers Kathuni, Country Director of the Millenium Water Alliance in Kenya. Over the last 16 years, Styvers has led the implementation of complex high-value programs in Africa including being a Chief of Party on a USAID funded project and leading Swiss and Dutch government funded resilience programs. Event: Day 4 Plenary, Measuring Climate Resilience in WASH: From Indicators to Impact Date: Oct. 30, 2025 Location: Friday Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Register for the conference here 2025 Plenary Sessions MONDAY, OCT. 27 Oh Sh!t, Now What? - Global aid is in retreat, with widespread implications for WASH. Uncertainty and fewer resources are the new normal, even as climate change and its effects raise the stakes for infrastructure and health. This session will feature a “fireside chat” with Raj Kumar, President and Editor-In-Chief of Devex, examining the tectonic shifts in global development. We’ll follow with a panel of prominent WASH thought leaders on what it all means for WASH policy and practice, and how to prepare for a new emerging reality.   TUESDAY, OCT. 28 The Role of the State - Governments have a mandate to coordinate, finance, build, provide, and monitor WASH services and infrastructure – yet they often fail to deliver. Aid can sometimes fill gaps and strengthen capacity, but may also displace essential state investments in infrastructure; and when aid is used only for infrastructure, it does not create institutional strength. This session will examine the role of states – and highlight their essential primacy in leading WASH – in the context of a changing landscape in international aid.   WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29 The Emerging Global Public Health Emergency – Drivers, Diseases, and Diplomacy; What Role for WASH? - Overlapping, interlinked crises of misinformation, political polarisation, climate change, environmental disaster, and shifting attitudes and practices in global health and international development exacerbate global health insecurity and have led to an upsurge in diseases such as cholera and dengue. This session will challenge panelists and attendees to consider actionable steps toward alignment between the WASH and health sectors, and discuss new, adaptive approaches for the sector as we confront new global health realities and the renewed urgency to fight cholera. THURSDAY, OCT. 30 Measuring Climate Resilience in WASH: From Indicators to Impact Climate Change and Its Impacts - Extreme weather events, altered hydrological cycles, and rising sea levels – amplify existing vulnerabilities and introduce new challenges to WASH infrastructure, service delivery, and management. In this plenary, leading researchers, policymakers, and practitioners will explore cutting-edge developments in defining and measuring climate resilience in WASH, deepening our understanding of how WASH systems can adapt and transform in the face of climate change.     Photo by Tom Fuldner The Technology and Innovation Showcase is still accepting submissions!   If you have a WASH innovation or a technology to present, apply below. The deadline to submit is Tues., Sept. 30, 2025.   Presenters at this Business Connect sponsored-event will be given up to five minutes to present a WASH-related technology or innovation, followed by a short question-and-answer segment with the audience. The presentations will be judged by a panel of WASH experts, as well as the audience, and the winners will be awarded during Thursday’s plenary.  All selected Technology & Innovation Showcase presenters will need to register to attend the Conference in-person to present. Apply: Technology and Innovation Showcase  Become a Sponsor Support an informed and evidence-based WASH sector by providing access to the latest research and science through this conference. We need your support to keep registration fees as low as possible, provide travel scholarships to those who require financial assistance, and provide virtual conference for everyone, everywhere. Contribute today via credit card at this link. For sponsorship inquiries, please email Kaida Liang or Ryan Scott McGuirt.