Water and Climate Governance Expert, and Founder of Water Practice International

Jacob Baraza Abumba

Water and Climate Governance Expert

“Focus on the problem without falling in love with the solution. Embrace problems as windows for innovation.”

Meet Jacob

• Jacob is committed to creating sustainable, community-driven water solutions to bridge the gap between global expertise and local realities in the face of climate change – a mission that pushed him to found Water Practice International in 2024.
• With an engineering background and experience in governance and public policy, working with both government and NGOs, Jacob has been an active water and climate management professional for over a decade.
• Jacob’s experience has taught him that working with local communities is more impactful than influencing top-down policies. He values improving human life, building connections, and empowering communities to come together for good.

Sector

Sustainable Water and Climate Governance

• “I never imagined myself as a water governance expert,” Jacob explains. His engineering background led him to infrastructure development in Kenya, inspecting large-scale projects across the country, yet he quickly became frustrated with corruption in the water sector.
• His work as a Research Assistant on water integrity for Transparency International Kenya opened the door for his career in mission-driven work and water governance. Yet, the top-down approach of western institutions – ignoring local voices in the world’s most climate-affected regions – left him seeking more.
• Following his experience with locally led programming while working with local and international organisations like CESPAD, Simavi, and RVO, he founded Water Practice International with an explicit mission to put humans at the forefront.
• Their activities include conducting irrigation projects, rainwater harvesting, and providing low-cost water purification technologies to vulnerable communities, emphasising the lived expertise of locals in climate-affected regions. Importantly, Jacob thinks that we must view local engagement from a value perspective: working with locals can also allow us to learn from them about how to make the world better. 

What’s in the sector’s future?

• Jacob recognises the challenges mission-driven organisations face, but sees these challenges as opportunities.
• Against the backdrop of budget cuts and hostile governments, he identifies an opening for nonprofits to develop a business mindset and reconsider the way their activities can offer revenue to investors.
• He urges professionals in the sector to collaborate more with the private sector, rethink the way they fundraise for their activities, and offer a value perspective to for-good projects.
• “I’m quite hopeful,” says Jacob – not only with regards to the opportunities for growth and reflection that current challenges bring, but also about the new generation of climate changemakers who are attempting to enter the sector.

Skills

Want to find out how Jacob landed the job he’s currently in? 

• Jacob’s top skill? “I like problems. I don’t like peace.” Jacob credits much of his success to his ability to see opportunities where others see obstacles. “Focus on the problem without falling in love with the solution. Embrace problems as windows for innovation.”
• He also believes a systems mindset is a crucial asset for climate and water management. “You cannot afford to look at water from one lens, but rather holistically.” He goes on, urging young changemakers to connect different stakeholders, foster cross-sectoral collaboration and think outside the box, beyond the confines of their academic background or institutional setting.
• Being able to leverage the expertise of local communities, seeing the human aspect of the problems one tackles, and engaging with climate-affected individuals are also useful skills for young climate professionals. Jacob says change happens at the grassroots level, and that’s where we should focus. “Otherwise, it’s like having a headache but treating your leg.”

Advice & Tips

• Use your full set of skills – Jacob credits his ability to approach projects from a creative angle to his background as an artist and designer, a field seemingly unrelated to water management. “The different little things that you do, and being able to connect them in innovative ways, contribute to who you become.”
• “Put yourself out there. Don’t be afraid to disrupt.” Jacob thinks the best way to push one’s career forward is to network as much as possible and be outspoken about the work that one does. If impact-driven work is not your workplace’s priority, then it is up to you to fight to make it a priority.
• If you develop the right skillset, any role is attainable, regardless of nationality or background. Discouraging words “can be the sole thing blocking you from achieving your goals,” and reaching your full potential.

• Curriculum Vitae

  Dorcas Aid International, Water Expert – Climate Adaptation & Resilience Team, [2025-present]

  Water Practice International, Founder & CEO, [2024-present]

  Netherlands Enterprise Agency, Climate & Water Policy Dialogue Lead – Reversing the Flow Policy Dialogue, [2024]

  Netherlands Enterprise Agency, Advisor Climate & Water – Reversing the Flow Programme, [2023-2024]

  Simavi, Programme Officer WASH & Climate, [2022-2023]

  Centre for Social Planning & Administrative Development (CESPAD), Advocacy & Communications Director, [2018-2022]

  CESPAD, Project Manager, [2016-2018]

  CESPAD, Technical Advisor IWRM, [2013-2015]

  Transparency International Kenya, Water Governance Programme Research Assistant, [2011-2012]

  Athi Water Services Board, Inspector of Works, [2009-2011]

Connection to the Hub

Prior to being a speaker at The Handshake, Jacob moderated the event “Advancing Climate Justice through Inclusive Decision-Making: Global South and Indigenous Perspectives”, organised by The Hague Humanity Hub and PARTOS.