Khafi Weekes

Khafi Weekes Weekes

Khafi Weekes works at the Environment, Rural Development, and Disaster Risk Management Division of the Inter-American Development Bank specializing in risk-resilient coastal zone and watershed management. Over the past three and a half years at the Bank she has been providing design, technical guidance and quality assurance for investments aimed at mainstreaming ICZM, IWRM, coastal risk resilience and leveraging coastal biodiversity for sustainable infrastructure, tourism and other blue economic activities in 13+ countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Another major element of her work has involved leading initiatives that build local technical capacities to effectively address climate risks ranging from hosting in-country workshops to the design of university level courses, the most recent of which being a university seminar for the University of Belize entitled ‘Climate Change Adaptation Planning for the Coastal Zone’. She was recently appointed to the Bank wide Sargassum Task Force identifying linkages between watershed activities and sargassum blooms in the Caribbean Basin. In tandem with her work at the IDB, Khafi is completing a PhD specializing in international water policy and groundwater sustainability in transboundary basins at McMaster University, Canada. Prior to joining the IDB, Khafi founded and directed the Coastal Protection Unit, and before that, was the Technical Advisor on Drainage Management to the Minister of Works of Trinidad and Tobago.