BPD Staff

Ken Caplan - Director

M.A. International Development, American University;
B.Sc. Foreign Service, International Relations and Comparative Regional Studies, Georgetown University

Ken Caplan has been Director of Building Partnerships for Development in Water and Sanitation since 2003 and was the Co-ordinator of the original initiative (Business Partners for Development) from 1999.  Ken has developed a range of research programmes on, for example, small town water and sanitation services (with WaterAid) and partnership accountability and assessment.  These have built on analysis he has conducted of diverse water and sanitation contexts, from water provision through public private partnerships in Buenos Aires and Jakarta, to public toilet provision in Ghana, to a political economy analysis of sanitation services in Brazil (for the World Bank / Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) in conjunction with Oxford Policy Management). 

Ken has worked directly with a range of organisations and partnership projects from, for example, local level partnerships between utilities and NGOs in Lilongwe and Blantyre (Malawi), to national level networks such as CONIWAS in Ghana, to more global partnerships and networks including the Water Integrity Network, Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), and Freshwater Action Network.  Ken is also a Senior Associate of the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL), serving as tutor on tailored courses for senior officials from the World Bank and other organisations.  Ken previously worked for 8 years in Southeast Asia, including rural Thailand, Bangkok and Vietnam. 

Tracey Keatman - Programme Director,
Latin America

M.Sc. Development Management, The Open University
B.A. (Hons.) Hispanic Studies, University of Birmingham

Tracey Keatman has worked with BPD since 1999 and is currently Programme Director for Latin America, acting as programmatic lead for research, training and project activities in the region.  She is also responsible for BPD's research and training on network and coalition governance, performance monitoring, and institutional development for WASH organisations - working with global organisations and initiatives such as WAWI, WaterAid, the Water Supply and Collaborative Council, Freshwater Action Network, and the Water & Sanitation Program. Her current research from five countries in Latin America focuses on developing practitioner and policymaker guidelines that seek to marry environmental and public health incentives for multi-stakeholder partnerships. Tracey has previously worked in the communications industry and in the public and non-profit sectors and is fluent in Spanish, with proficient French.

David Schaub-Jones -
Programme Director, Africa

M.A. International Relations and International Economics, Johns Hopkins University
M.Sc. Water Supply and Sanitation, Ecole Nationale du Genie de l’Eau et de l’Environnement de Strasbourg
M.Eng. Civil Engineering with European Studies, Southampton University

Since joining BPD in 1999, David Schaub-Jones has managed much of BPD’s research programme and communications work, as well as publishing his own analysis on topics such as the benefits of multi-sector partnerships to business, civil society and the public sector, and measuring the effectiveness of partnerships, including several case studies.  He has a particular interest in innovative partnerships that deliver water and sanitation services to poor communities, and small-scale independent providers. David has helped to develop and run several BPD workshops and sessions at conferences (such as World Bank water forums).  Prior to joining BPD, David worked on water and poverty issues with, among others, the World Bank, the Water and Sanitation Programme, IADB and the UK consultancy WS Atkins.  He also spent time with Voluntary Service Overseas working on water resource management issues in Morocco and India. David is fluent in French.

Jacques-Edouard Tiberghien - Programme Officer

Ph.D. in Water and Sanitation Management: ‘A Holistic Approach to the Assessment of Sanitation Development in Mexican Villages’, Cranfield University
M.Sc. in Environmental Water Management, Cranfield University
Diplôme d’Ingénieur en Agriculture, ISAB (Institut Supérieur Agricole de Beauvais, France)

Before joining BPD in 2010, Jacques-Edouard Tiberghien completed the above PhD and worked as lecturer-researcher in the Water Centre of TEC de Monterrey (Mexico), where he taught ‘Water for Development’ and set up a WASH in schools project in partnership with local NGOs.  He previously managed a water and sanitation project in Niger with Action Against Hunger and has experience as a small business manager. Jacques-Edouard is a qualified engineer and is fluent in French and Spanish.

Yvonne Sheehan -
Fundraising & Communications Officer

M.Sc. Practising Sustainable Development, Royal Holloway University of London
B.A. (Joint Hons.) Economics and Portuguese, University of Leeds 

Yvonne Sheehan joined BPD part-time in 2008 whilst completing the above Masters, which included researching hygiene behaviours among people living with HIV/ AIDS in Tanzania. She has previously worked in fundraising and communications for NGOs in the UK and Mozambique, as well as in the private sector, and has worked full-time for BPD since October 2010. Yvonne is fluent in Portuguese.

Kathy Taylor - Finance Officer

FCCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants)

Kathy Taylor has worked part-time for BPD since 2006 and also works part-time for another charity.  Prior to joining BPD, Kathy spent most of her career working in professional accountancy practice for many types of organisation, from small sole traders to medium-sized companies to the more specialised sectors of solicitors and charities. This has included accounts preparation and audit, ensuring organisations comply with statutory regulations in their accounting and reporting.