Who

““Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. » Andre Gide 

I’m Frederic de Hemptinne, a life sciences engineer with 35 years of experience supporting international institutions and national governments in managing complex transitions in water and solid waste management across Europe, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. I work at the intersection of policy development, institutional design, and implementation bridging the gap between strategic vision and operational reality.

My career started in 1989 with three years in water treatment R&D, leading to a pivotal transition into environmental policy. I worked extensively on EU directives and their implementation by Member States, serving as both consultant and policy advisor in Brussels. As proposal writer, monitoring officer, and evaluator, I have also been involved in many EU-funded projects aimed at demonstrating innovative approaches for integrated water and waste management.

From 2014 to 2019, I worked in Algeria for Enabel as technical advisor and project manager of an €11M integrated waste management program. After working 3 year at Enabel’s headquarters in Brussels, I joined in February 2023 a Veolia team in Saudi Arabia as institutional expert on municipal waste management.

Since April 2024, I have focused on the development of Sustainable Synergies, undertaking assignments with UNDP (Algeria) and Enabel (Mozambique). Additionally, I have collaborated with international consultancies on proposal development for UNDP and World Bank initiatives. Most recently, I was selected to join the team supporting the European Commission in implementing the EU Urban Facility, which commences in November 2025.