Julie Smolnitchi

Water Governance Specialist

Areas of expertise

  • Water International Law and Human Right to Water and Sanitation
  • Survey design, project planning and monitoring
  • Sustainability of rural water supply systems

Julie Smolnitchi is a committed and results oriented water specialist, with expertise on water governance, project planning and monitoring, sustainability of rural water supply systems, and business models for household water treatment and storage.

Key data

Qualification (Institute) MA in International Relations – Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), Geneva, Switzerland
Working languages French and Italian (native), English (fluent), Romanian (fluent), German (intermediate)
Years of Experience 9
Nationality Swiss and Italian
Country experience and regional expertise Eastern Europe : Republic of Moldova

Sub-Saharan Africa: Mauritania, Kenya

Asia: India, Bangladesh, Nepal

Select projects, roles, achievements and publications
  • “Serving those beyond utility reach in the Danube Region”, regional study lead by the World Banks’ Danube Water program, leader of the study for Moldova
  • Planning and monitoring manager for the ApaSan Project (Moldova): development and follow-up of project’s planning, monitoring and evaluation tools
  • Responsible of a household survey on rural water and sanitation in 26 villages of Moldova
  • Promotion and setting up of business models for household water treatment and storage (HWTS), specifically for the electro-chlorinator “WATA” devices
  • Responsible for the public-public partnership between the city of Lausanne (Switzerland) and the city of Nouakchott (Mauritania)
  • “Safe Water School Manual” (first edition, 2011), co-author of a SODIS and Antenna Technologies Foundation publication
  • Coordination of the Swiss campaign for sanitation on behalf of four Federal Offices and coordination of the Swiss presence at the 5th World Water Forum (2009)
  • “La tarification de l’eau en Suisse romande”, water utility of Lausanne, Switzerland
Key clients
Affiliations and networks
  • Aguasan, Swiss community of practice
  • Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Water Network “RésEau”
  • RWSN, mapping and monitoring topic