How do you measure impact? For an international organisation working across different countries, regions and partnerships, the answer is not always straightforward. It requires a shared understanding of what impact means, how it can be measured and how it can be maximised.
With a background in water research, research management and organisational leadership, World Waternet’s new Impact Director brings together experience from across sectors to tackle this very challenge. In this Q&A, Chrysoula Papacharalampou talks about her background and new responsibilities.
Connecting strategy, collaboration and impact
Can you tell us a bit about your journey so far in your career? What kind of work have you been doing leading up to this role?
Chrysoula: My background is dual and focused on water research and research management. I hold a PhD in integrated water resources management and impact assessment from the University of Bath in the UK. My focus in research took an action-oriented and transdisciplinary angle to understand how natural capital (i.e. nature as a whole) can be integrated into water utilities' asset management plans and to explore how we can think of catchments and water as the assets, instead of only the infrastructure. During my years in the UK, I collaborated with water utilities, local government and civil society organisations, all valuable experiences that laid the foundations for my career. For example, I have worked on understanding how flood events impact the policy landscape at urban/city level by conducting archival work combined with hydrological modelling. As a ‘side project’ to this work, we commissioned a city-wide art exhibition on the role of the river in the city's development, with the title River is the Venue.
Having taken a step outside the water sector, I have been the Executive Director of the Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) at Erasmus University Rotterdam since 2020. In this leadership position, I gained experience in leading and managing an organisation and in co-creating and executing strategy and policy.
Throughout the years, I have remained connected to the international, and mainly European, water sector through my collaboration with H2O People, an SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise), in the role of Societal Impact Advisor. I currently also serve on the Board of Directors of the H2O People Foundation.
Turning impact into strategy and practice
What does your new role look like in practice?
Chrysoula: My role as Impact Director is diverse, hence exciting! The role entails strategy, EU affairs, internal coordination and alignment, impact measurement, impact culture, alignment with the Board, sharpening our services and developing a funding strategy with the objective to diversify our income streams. The daily work involves desk research and reading, meetings with external stakeholders, internal meetings with colleagues and teams across projects, countries, regions and areas of work, and travelling to international events for inspiration and new connections.
Building a shared culture of impact
What parts of your role do you enjoy the most? What kind of problems or challenges are you helping to tackle?
Chrysoula: I enjoy how diverse the role is and how it brings together a jigsaw puzzle of knowledge, experiences and learning styles, all for the purpose of creating a sustainable, viable and equitable water world. I work with external stakeholders to explore synergies and possibilities for creating more value and developing new avenues of work. I also work with our extended team to align our efforts and create a shared foundation for what impact is and how we talk about and measure it. I am also getting started on working with our Amsterdam founding partners to achieve alignment and draw inspiration from their international agendas and ambitions, as well as to determine how we can support these through our work.
Overall, I am working on the impact culture, which, for me, is first an internal team challenge and then a question of collaboration. Creating the backbone for achieving impact is crucial. Building on the knowledge and experiences of our regions, countries and donors, I am working towards creating a shared yet distinct World Waternet impact vision and strategy, as well as embedding these across the organisation.
Familiar sector, but a new adventure
What made this role stand out to you?
Chrysoula: It brings together elements of my professional experience that may not otherwise connect with each other. I deeply identify with the values of WWN and its identity as a kind adventurer.
It is a solid step back to the water sector, with the experience acquired while working in another sector, which is valuable in so many ways and it is interdisciplinarity in practice - which makes me very excited. Water is my passion, and impact comes as a close second - so the combination has made it an easy choice to make the step towards the water sector.
I am excited and inspired to work with so many talented, knowledgeable and driven people!
