Maria Eugenia de la Peña

Maria Eugenia de la Peña

María Eugenia is a Lead Water and Sanitation Specialist at the IDB Representation in Panama, where she leads the dialogue with the Panamanian Government on issues related to water resource management, urban and rural water and sanitation, stormwater drainage, and solid waste management. Since 2011, she has worked at the IDB, participating in the design and implementation of water and sanitation projects in several Latin American and Caribbean countries. She has promoted various regional agendas, such as the circular economy in water and sanitation, the reuse of treated wastewater, the use of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), and the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions in water and sanitation systems. In addition, she has coordinated the Water and Sanitation Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (OLAS) since its inception, promoting the proper management of regional sectoral data. Prior to joining the IDB, she worked at the National Water Commission in Mexico, where she was responsible for supporting water and sanitation companies through financing, technical assistance, and training. She also conducted community work in water and sanitation in rural communities in Mexico. María Eugenia is a civil engineer, graduated from the Faculty of Engineering of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and holds a master's degree in Environmental Engineering from the Hamburg University of Technology in Germany.