COP28 Event: An Open Table – Leveraging Youth Innovation and Private Sector Scale to Solve the Water Crisis

Joice Mendez (Iffath Sharif is the Global Director for Social Protection and Jobs. She was previously the manager of the Human Capital Project supporting the World Bank Group’s global agenda to protect, build and utilize human capital in partnership with countries and development agencies. Prior to this, she held multiple positions in the Africa region as Practice Manager for the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice, as well as in South Asia as Lead Economist and Human Development Program Leader. Iffath has worked on areas of poverty, adaptive safety nets and public works, early childhood development, microfinance, gender, nutrition, migration, and jobs. She holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and a Masters from Princeton University.)

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Patrick Decker was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Xylem in March 2014, and he also serves on the Xylem Board of Directors. Xylem is a leading global water technology provider, serving customers in more than 150 countries with innovative solutions to their most complex water challenges.

Mr. Decker joined Xylem from Harsco Corporation, a global industrial services company where he was President and CEO. Prior to that, he served in several leadership roles at Tyco International, including President of Tyco Flow Control. Mr. Decker serves on the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Executive Council on Infrastructure, the Infrastructure Committee for the U.S. Business Roundtable, as well as the advisory council for the Dean of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

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Joice Mendez is a migrant and social entrepreneur working on transboundary cooperation in the water-energy-food nexus with an emphasis on energy justice. Joice is a major voice of Latin America within leading youth and climate mechanisms, including the United Nations Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, the UN Major Group of Children and Youth’s SDG7 Youth Constituency, the IRENA's Director- General's Global Council on Enabling Youth Action for SDG7 and the initiative Youth4Climate. Currently she works with the Youth Climate Justice Fund as Latin American and Caribbean Regional Lead.

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Tatiana Estevez is the CEO and founder of Permalution, delivering fog and cloud collectors to democratize access to water and alleviate water stress around the world. The women-led company has operations in Guadalajara, Mexico and Lima, Peru, and produces fog harvesting technologies. Permalution focuses on coastal, valley, and elevation fog which can be captured using fog catchers. A single Fog Buster can collect from 150-400 liters of water per day, which is enough to provide for a family of four. Fog harvesting technology poses no threat to the environment because it only harvests a small percentage of the total fog available. Permulation also makes a fog radar, which gathers meteorological data on fog, and REIF (Report on Impact and Feasibility). Permalution is on a mission to introduce a new water source through its world-class technology. Tatiana has previous experience in innovation and technology development, where she worked with companies like Bosch, Meta, IBM and more. Tatiana also founded Tech Quiero, a non-profit working to introduce women and girls to technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation, with operations in 4 cities in North America. Holds a BA in Management from the University of Ottawa.

Persis Ramírez is a water professional from the Dominican Republic experienced in overseeing projects and programs related to Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the Caribbean region. Her areas of interest are water management, menstrual hygiene management and sanitation. Persis also has experience supporting project portfolios that address water issues crosscutting with environmental pollution, gender, and climate change. She is one of the winners of the Youth4Climate Sparking Solutions event, and part of the COP28 International Youth Climate Delegate Program.

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