At the time I decided to pivot in my career, I was running a leadership program for a US based foreign policy think tank. I remember one of the facilitators asking, “in your next career, in your next adventure, what is the one thing that you believe would be essential?” And, I remember writing on a piece of paper the word “mission.” I wanted to find something mission-driven.

The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) needed someone who was well versed in international policy and they were willing to take a chance on me, even though I did not have this water and science background.

At the same time, I was planning to move back to Europe because it’s a setting where I feel most at home. Sweden was one of the countries I was considering, as I was drawn to their values on sustainability, the environment, and the elusive work-life balance.

The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) needed someone who was well versed in international policy and they were willing to take a chance on me, even though I did not have this water and science background. I’ve been with SIWI for two and a half years now, and it has been an absolutely rewarding, gratifying journey so far.

I focus on water and climate issues and work closely with international organizations that govern global climate action, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). At the UNFCCC, I serve as a focal point for water for the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, the main civil society platform where non-state actors get to engage with governments that have signed on to the Paris Agreement. SIWI, together with many other civil society organizations, amplify solutions on climate change, guide progress that needs to be made, and press for ambitions that need to be scaled up.

The UN Climate Change conference, called COP26, in Glasgow in November is a moment that many are following closely, and I’m thrilled to be a part in translating a long-held ambition into reality for the global water community: uniting under a first-ever Water & Climate Pavilion at the COP. This is the first time that SIWI and our more than 30 partners will be together in entering the heart of the COP to bring the most powerful insights and ideas on water-inspired action toward a climate-resilient future. Looking back at the past year as the lead on this endeavor and thinking about Glasgow, I can’t find a better word to describe what I do than: mission.