Julie Perkins is leading the Global Water Operators Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA) Secretariat, a Bonn-based initiative of UN-Habitat. She is an urban water and sustainability professional with 15 years of experience working to make basic services more inclusive, resilient and sustainable.  Before joining UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme) as a Program Officer in 2004, Julie was involved in urbanization research and watershed management, working within local government and research institutions. She has a Masters in Urban Planning from McGill University in Canada.

The Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance is a network of partners committed to “helping water operators help one another”. This global alliance works to scale up effective “Water Operators’ Partnerships’ , not-for-profit partnerships between peer utilities, that help boost their know-how and skills, and make improvements that connect more people with sustainable water and sanitation services.