Blanca Iris has more than 10 years experience of working in private and NGO sectors in development projects and post-emergency aid related to water, sanitation and hygiene education in rural areas of Colombia, especially with ethnic minorities. Main focuses of these projects were: the strengthening of local capacity to manage water and sanitation facilities, educative processes in hygiene, and design of sanitation systems.

After her participation in the International Training Programme Ecological Alternatives in Sanitation 2006-07 held by EcoSanRes/SEI, she has been involved in an EcoSan learning and demonstration project in an indigenous community, and participated in the development of two EcoSan capacity building events with international experts and SEI support.

Blanca Iris has a degree in Sanitary Engineering and advanced post-graduate course in Community Development from the University of Valle (Cali, Colombia). At present she is studying for a Master’s on Rural Development and Natural Resource Management at SLU (Uppsala, Sweden).