Mathew Kurian

Mathew Kurian has twelve years of experience with socio-economic analysis of projects, programs and policies in transition and developing countries. His training is in social geography with a specialization in water resources management and service delivery in irrigation, water supply and sanitation sectors. On completing a Ph.D. in Development Studies from Institute of Social Studies at The Hague, Netherlands Mathew was employed at International Water Management Institute (affiliated to the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research) at its offices in Colombo, Bangkok and Addis Ababa. In this capacity he was responsible for undertaking a socio-economic appraisal of farmer adoption of soil erosion technologies in the Mekong river basin, Laos. Mathew also undertook an institutional assessment of small- scale irrigation schemes in the Nile river basin, Ethiopia. As a staff consultant at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila, Philippines Mathew coordinated an update of ADB’s social safeguard policies. Before moving to take up a faculty position at UNESCO-IHE, Delft Mathew served as a Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist at the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) of the World Bank in which capacity he led projects on source sustainability of rural water supply schemes and peri-urban wastewater management in India and Bangladesh. During his stint at WSP he identified research and teaching interests relating to rural-urban transformation, climate variability and wastewater management. Mathew’s most recent publication is a book that analyzes the relationship between poverty, heterogeneity and cooperation and its implications for design of externally supported projects in developing countries.

• Publications