Dhesigen Naidoo is a leader, a scientist and activist for positive social change.
He is currently Head of the African Climate Risk and Human Security Programme at the Institute for Security Studies, Africa; and Climate Adaptation Advisor at the South African Presidential Climate Commission. He is Board member and past President of the global NGO, Human Right 2 Water, and a Founding Member of the Water Policy Group. He is a member of the Board of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a member of the CGAIR, and Vice Chair of the UAE Technical Advisory Group on Water, and a member of the International Advisory Panel on Urban Sustainability Solutions for Singapore/ He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Stellenbosch School of Climate Studies.
He was previously the CEO of the Water Research Commission (WRC), South Africa’s dedicated national Water and Sanitation Innovation, Research and Development Agency for 10 years. He has previously served in senior positions in the South African national government, eventually as Deputy Director-General and South African universities having begun his career as a medical scientist in a specialist children’s hospital. He was a Councillor of the South African National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI).
Dhesigen has an MSc(Med) and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Health Economics from the University of Cape Town. He has completed Executive Development and International Management programs with GIBS (Gordon Institute for Business Sciences, University of Pretoria) and National University of Singapore/Stanford University.
He counts his lovely wife and beautiful children as both his primary source of inspiration and the vanguard of his humility.
