Meet our new team in Kenya!

Peter de Koning

Can you tell us a bit more about your background?

I grew up in Assen (Drenthe), and studied Civil Engineering at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen. During my studies, I specialized in Harbours, Coastal protection and Dredging. Water has always been one of my major passions. Swimming, surfing or just looking at water flowing, that’s what makes me happy.

I participated in a traineeship at Boskalis, one of the world’s most renowned dredging and maritime services company. Here, I gained my first international work experience. I worked on scouring protection of offshore pipelines, cables, and windfarms on the North Sea and on expansion of the port of Gävle, Sweden. In the Netherlands, I was involved in coastal protection as well as dike construction along the river IJssel as part of the Dutch Room for the River programme.

Peter getting acquainted with the Kenyan wildlife and ecosystem 

For many years I have been concerned with global threats regarding the state of the earth. Climate change and loss of biodiversity became more and more drivers for me to want to find a more meaningful way of life. Finally, inspired by professor Henk Manschot’s book Nietzsche and The Earth (Dutch: Blijf de aarde trouw) and my philosophy of experimental living, I decided to work as a freelancer in the world of sustainability and biodiversity. With The Tipping Point foundation I built a biodiversity platform and network called The Pollinators. We also had a company called KantoorKaravaan as an initiative for working in and connecting with nature and we have done a lot of diverse campaigns and events creating environmental awareness. I also decided to invest my savings in a good cause, and bought 50 hectares of sacred rainforest in the Philippines, adding another 50 through crowdfunding, to give back to the indigenous Higaonon community. During this time, I was also a drummer for Jubal Drum & Bugle Corps, touring throughout Europe and the USA to participate in drum corps competitions. Later, I was fed up with the competition element and I took my drums on a cart behind my bicycle to play ceremonial concerts for mountains and waterfalls between Bosnia Herzegovina and Germany.  

Some years ago I met Frank Heckman and Leo van der Vlist from the Embassy of the Earth who were, and are, brilliant in community based future planning in extremely challenging environments. This seemed to be the missing link in truly addressing the issues of our time, such as flooding, soil degradation and droughts. I set up a learning community of 20 pioneers in the world of art, design, indigenous action and sustainable solutions, Embassy of the Earth Fellowship, with whom we studied social design, open systems thinking and search conferencing (red: Fred and Merrelyn Emery, E. Trist, F. Heckman, R. Purser a.o.). I joined Embassy of the Earth as an ambassador and social architect and worked with the now formed White Mountain Maasai Community on their efforts for landscape and livelihood regeneration in Kenya and Tanzania and the local communities around Point Calimere in Tamil Nadu, India, to plan the revival of the wetlands/mangroves, in relation to the whole social system.

How did you come to join World Waternet?

Shortly before the corona crisis struck the world, I had wished to return to the water sector. The water cycle approach was one of the aspects that attracted me to Waternet and with some luck in times that it was incredibly difficult to get hired, I got a job at permits & regulations in the team of Dory van Rijswijk, while being able to work from the coast of Portugal for some months, the life abroad became more attractive. Approaching World Waternet as a board member of Embassy of the Earth, I met Marieke van Nood and Judith Kolen. This was my introduction to the work and the team of World Waternet. Some months later it was clear that there would be a newly created position available for a Resident Project Manager and, despite of some deep thoughts because of the great commitment – and giving up on my temporary ocean life, this was clearly in line with my story as it had been unfolding since my studies. In Kenya, there are a lot of challenges in both water resource management and water services. With the partnerships that World Waternet built in the past years with the Water Resources Authority (WRA) and Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC), and the extensive and incredibly inspiring expertise of Waternet colleagues, there is a firm ground and great opportunity for me to contribute to improving the water system in Kenya. I feel challenged, I am happy to make Kenya my home and I am proud to be part of the World Waternet organization.

What do you hope to achieve in Kenya?

I will stay in Kenya for three years. I hope that due to my constant presence here, together with Joost, I will be able to fully exploit the potential of knowledge sharing and capacity building between World Waternet and our Dutch and Kenyan partners whilst creating a tangible impact in water (resource) quality and availability for the people of Kenya.

Joost Verbart

Can you tell us a bit more about your background?

I grew up in Breda (Brabant) and after high school I decided to take a gap year and started volunteering in an orphanage in Malindi, a town lying on the coast of Kenya. It was a great and fulfilling experience working with kids and I always wanted to go back to Kenya one day. When I came back to the Netherlands I moved to Delft to study Civil Engineering and during my studies I again had the opportunity to go abroad. I went to Gambia to work on a project for solar-powered drying and storing fruit, vegetables and fish so the locals have nutritious food and vitamins in less fertile seasons. I also went to the Galapagos islands for a feasibility study on floating solar parks. For my bachelor thesis, I went back to Kenya do research on aerial piping for water supply to the Kibera slums in Nairobi. The advantage of aerial piping is that houses do not need to be removed or relocated. Moreover, illegal water connections are better detectable and the maintenance can be carried out more easily. 

Joost in Gambia working on a solar-powered innovation for drying food

How did you come to join World Waternet?

For my Master thesis, I got into contact with Waternet and World Waternet as I was looking for an interesting water-related research project in Africa. That is how I got to graduate on non-revenue water in Nairobi, specifically on where to install smart water meters in order to easily detect leakages. After graduation I wanted to get away from my laptop for a while, and started working as a technical assistant teacher at a high school in Woerden. This was extremely fun, doing scientific experiments with kids to teach them more about chemistry and physics. The assignment of Sam, the previous YEP () expert in Nairobi, was coming to an end. So that position opened up again and I immediately decided to apply. I was longing to return to Kenya, and this was an exceptional opportunity. And then I got through the selection process and hired for the job.

What do you hope to achieve in Kenya?

For two years I’ll be in Kenya, working as Project Coordinator. Half my time is dedicated to the Blue Deal project with the Water Resources Authority (WRA) and the other half to the WaterWorX project with Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC). I aim to be the linking pin between the Waternet and local experts, prepare short-term visits, conduct field visits and facilitate capacity building and sharing expertise. All this will contribute to providing more people access to clean and safe water, that is distributed equally for those how life upstream as well as downstream. On top of that, my goal is that two years from now I am fluent in Swahili. And, last but not least, I want to go back to Malindi and reunite with my Kenyan host parents and see if I can track down some of the kids I met at the orphanage eight years ago!