Maria Tsakona is founder of Qgreen, an environmental and natural resources management firm in Athens, Greece providing innovative advisory and support services to businesses, public authorities, NGOs, and policymakers. She holds a degree in Environmental Engineering (MSc) and has more than 14 years of experience in directing and managing waste management plans and strategies, reuse and recycling programs, environmental impact assessment studies and feasibility studies. She has participated in several EU-funded projects and international projects (Israel, Turkey, Jordan, Brazil, MENA region etc.) and has experience in Information and Communication (ICT) tools in environmental management. In 2016 she joined the ISWA Marine Litter Task Force and since 2019 she has been working with GRID-Arendal, Norway (A UNEP partner) on plastic pollution and marine litter.

Her vision is “closing the loop”. She sees herself as part of the solution for green sustainable development, applying the principles of circular economy. Therefore, she approaches each project as an opportunity to strengthen the economy, society, and the natural world. To achieve this, she participates in multidisciplinary teams and bring innovative ideas and sustainable solutions into her projects.

Being part of the ISWA family for more than a decade, Maria introduced the urgent need to integrate the gender perspective in waste and resource management to ISWA in 2016.

Maria Tsakona is an Environmental Engineer (MSc) with more than 14 years of experience in directing and managing environmental engineering projects in the field of solid waste management: formulation of waste management plans and strategies, reuse and recycling programs, environmental impact assessment studies and feasibility studies. She has participated in several EU funded projects and has experience in Information and Communication (ICT) tools in environmental management. During the past seven years, Maria had the opportunity to participate in several international conferences and projects, which had contributed in increasing her understanding of major global waste management challenges and opportunities. Although there have been several issues that have attracted Maria’s attention, she has chosen to focus on two: marine litter and women of the waste sector.

Georgina Nitzsche specializes in human security and development, working internationally on participation, capacity building and community engagement for civil society, government and international organizations such as the UNDP, UNICEF.

She is a long-time associate of Women without Borders, supporting in action research projects for female empowerment projects in democracy and security building from Afghanistan to Zanzibar.

Georgina holds an MSc in Sustainable Development and Climate Change and trained at the London School of Journalism. She was ISWA International Partnerships and Events Manager from 2016 – 2020 and represents ISWA Austria on the ISWA Working Group for Communications and Social Issues.

Delila is committed to accelerating positive impact in the world. For the past 25 years she has advanced inclusive economic growth and women’s economic empowerment across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. She has designed and managed multi-million dollar programs for USAID, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, and the World Bank in more than 20 countries. Working with the public, private, and informal sectors, Delila ensures that women’s empowerment is integrated into programs, policies, and investments. She has been at the forefront of advancing the role of women in the global recycling sector to better combat ocean plastics pollution.  Delila designed USAID’s first municipal waste and recycling program in Southeast Asia, and co-authored the Agency’s pioneering global study of women’s economic empowerment in the waste and recycling sector.

An entrepreneur at heart, Delila has led non-profit and for-profit startups – including the Development Innovations Group and the Center for Global Policy – and advises women entrepreneurs in the US and globally on business strategy. Most recently, she joined forces with Global Bio Fund (GBF) – a venture capital fund investing in women-owned life science companies.  As Impact Partner, she drives GBF’s gender lens investment strategy and oversees investments in the circular economy and environmental sectors.