Smita Rawoot is the Urban Resilience lead at World Resources Institute (WRI). She leads a team of researchers and urban development professionals who are focused on helping cities manage and adapt to their climate risks while advancing human & environmental health, economic opportunity, and social wellness. She is leading the Urban Water Resilience Initiative in Africa that is helping develop strategic plans for water resilience in six cities.

Kirsten McDonald is an associate principal with Arup’s International Development team in the Australasian region. Kirsten has 28 years’ experience scoping, planning, designing and delivering programs and projects that maximise impact throughout Asia, Australia, and the Pacific for organisations such as the Asian Development Bank (including the UCCRTF), the World Bank, DFAT, the European Union, the Rockefeller Foundation, Mercy Corps, Plan International, and Habitat for Humanity.

Sanjay K. Srivastava is presently Chief of Disaster Risk Reduction at UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). He was ESCAP Regional Adviser on Disaster Risk Reduction from October 2009 to June 2014; Head of SAAARC Disaster Management Centre – New Delhi from 2007-2008; Deputy Project Director of Disaster Management Support Programme at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO); and Scientist/Engineer at ISRO HQ Bangalore since 1991.

Debora Dian Utami or Amie is currently the Program Manager of YAKKUM Emergency Unit (YEU) Indonesia—an NGO that was established in 2001 and has mandates on inclusive emergency response, disaster risk reduction (DRR), and climate change adaptation. Amie graduated with a degree in communication studies from Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia, and has been working in YEU since 2016.

Md. Golam Rabbani is the Head of the Climate Bridge Fund (CBF), BRAC in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has been working on environment and climate change issues at national and regional levels for about nineteen years, mainly in the areas of climate risk and vulnerability assessment, risk management, policy and institutional analysis, and adaptation to climate change. Golam Rabbani was one of the key team members for preparing Bangladesh’s National Adaptation Programmes of Action (2005), Second National Communication (2012), and Adaptation Chapter for the Third National Communication of Bangladesh.

Sophie De Coninck brings over 20 years of international development, environment, and climate change experience to her role as Manager for the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility, or LoCAL. Designed by the United Nations Capital Development Fund, LoCAL is a standard and internationally recognized country-based mechanism that finances locally led climate change adaptation, active in over 25 least developed countries (LDC) and African countries. Prior to joining LoCAL, Sophie worked on climate issues for the European Union.

Aage Jorgensen has for the past decade been Program Manager at the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) where he has helped build up a portfolio of climate change projects. He works with community-based adaptation, climate-resilient infrastructure, and urban development and is responsible for the NDF support to several countries in Africa, Asia, and Central America.

Shoubhik Ganguly has worked in the infrastructure development and financing sector in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa for more than 16 years. He has worked for multilateral and bilateral development institutions and governments for the development and financing of projects in the areas of climate resilience, water, and sanitation, urban infrastructure, municipal financing, and governance. He has supported national governments in the development of enabling frameworks and capacity for leveraging private finance in infrastructure.