Press Release
September 27, 2023 • 2 min read
GOAL is delighted to announce the appointment of Yvonne Harris, Head of Strategic Projects at Uisce Éireann, to the Water-Share Ireland committee in a crucial governance, co-ordination, and support role.
Water-Share Ireland is an alliance of stakeholders from the Irish water resources community, which collaborates with GOAL to deliver sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programmes to highly vulnerable communities in the global south. In the humanitarian aid sector, WASH programmes deliver clean, safe water for drinking, cooking, and washing. Stakeholders from the Irish water resources community provide funding, technical resources, and expertise to the Water-Share initiative to drive and develop WASH programmes.
Uisce Éireann’s Head of Strategic Projects, Yvonne Harris
With a distinguished career spanning 40 years in utilities, Yvonne Harris brings considerable experience to her new role in Water-Share Ireland. Yvonne began her career at Ervia, formerly Bord Gáis Éireann, where she served as Head of IT Service Delivery for a number of years. Yvonne later transitioned into broader business roles focused on organisational development and transformation. In 2018, she accepted the Head of Customer Operations role for Uisce Éireann, followed by her appointment as Housing Programme Director in 2021. Yvonne is also a Chartered Director with the IoD (Institute of Directors in Ireland) and currently serves on the Board of Threshold Ireland, a charity which provides independent advice and advocacy to people experiencing housing problems.
Speaking about Yvonne Harris’s appointment to the Water-Share Ireland initiative, Jerry Grant, Founder and Chairperson, Water-Share Ireland (and Chairperson, Dublin Port Company) said,
“Two billion people across the world lack access to safe drinking water and 3.6 billion people across the world lack access to safe sanitation. Water-Share Ireland enables us to tap into the talent, commitment, and generosity of employees from the Irish water resources community, to grow GOAL’s already existing WASH programmes in Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Northwest Syria, and deliver a wider WASH programming reach in these communities and ultimately make some impact on these stark global figures. Yvonne will play a key role in driving this growth in funding and offers of expertise for Water-Share Ireland.”
Speaking about her impetus to join the Water-Share initiative, Yvonne Harris, Head of Strategic Projects, Uisce Éireann, who already has a deep commitment to social justice said,
“I have been working in the Irish water utilities sector since 2013 and I hope to leverage that experience to develop the Water-Share Ireland initiative and deliver a sustainable and enduring model for the initiative. I will do this by defining how the Irish water resources community can best help us, have meaningful engagement with that extensive community and then build on existing and potential funding and pro-bono expertise commitments to deliver an enduring model where more Water-Share projects will be delivered to more vulnerable communities in the global south, where they are most needed.”
Yvonne Harris’s appointment signifies a significant step forward for Water-Share Ireland and aligns with GOAL’s ongoing commitment to expanding the organisation’s reach and impact, underpinned by GOAL’s Strategy 2025, titled ‘From Crisis to Resilience’.
Please see https://www.goalglobal.org/water-share/
