Ron Sawyer

Executive Director of the SARAR Group

Ron Sawyer has more than thirty years’ experience providing participatory training and technical support to development programs in Latin America, Africa and Asia. During the 1980s, he was the senior training consultant to the UNDP/PROWWESS global project for promoting the role of women in water and environmental sanitation services. From 1990 to 1994, as Regional Participatory Development & Training Specialist for the World Bank Water and Sanitation Program based in Nairobi, he helped to integrate participatory methods into sector programs in Africa. In collaboration with WHO, UNICEF and the International Training Network, he spearheaded the Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation initiative -- PHAST. From the mid-1990’s until 2015, he was a key collaborator in the Swedish Sida supported EcoSanRes/SEI program, concerned with investigating and promoting alternative ecological sanitation systems.

Ron presently is Executive Director of the SARAR Group:

• Sarar Capacitación AC, a Mexican non-profit civil society organization dedicated to providing participatory assessment, training and project support to rural and peri-urban communities to improve their WASH services, including post-disaster communities and school rehabilitation.

• Sarar Transformación SC, an international consulting group based in Tepoztlán, Mexico, providing program development and communication support services to development organizations in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

• ecoSencia, micro-enterprise dedicated to design, production and marketing of eco-friendly water and sanitation accessories.