Research partners
WSUP
About WSUP
Founded in 2005 by seven organisations, WSUP is a not-for-profit company that drives inclusive and resilient urban water and sanitation systems through pioneering practices, partnerships, and policies, ensuring that millions of people gain access to these essential services.
Over the last two decades, WSUP have become recognised as leaders in the urban WASH sector, providing solutions that are affordable for the low-income communities, financially viable for suppliers, and sustainable for the environment.
WSUP recognises that water doesn’t just come out of a tap, it comes from a functioning system, not just made up of pipes and boreholes, but of the people, institutions, regulators, businesses and politicians who manage it.
In all their projects, WSUP works alongside local stakeholders to develop services, build infrastructure and attract funding to improve the lives of men, women and children who live in the low-income communities that they serve. WSUP has worked in Mozambique since 2007.
Meet the team
Sam Drabble
Sam Drabble is an urban WASH professional with over 10 years’ experience in urban WASH research, programme evaluation and peer-to-peer learning.
He holds organisation-wide responsibility for the Evaluation, Research and Learning function at WSUP.
While at WSUP Sam has supported the rollout of research programmes across WSUP’s seven programme countries, authored or edited over 60 WSUP technical publications, and led research studies for World Bank, World Health Organisation (WHO), Eastern and Southern Africa Water and Sanitation (ESAWAS) and UN Habitat among others.
Prior to joining WSUP, Sam worked as Analyst in the Evaluation and Performance Management team at RAND Europe. This built on experience with the learning and development team at the UK Institute for Government.
Dinis Anastácio Namburete
Dinis Anastácio Namburete is a seasoned WASH specialist with over 20 years’ experience driving inclusive water, sanitation, and hygiene solutions in urban Mozambique. He has been a key figure in improving services for low-income communities, combining technical expertise with deep community engagement to deliver sustainable impact.
Since 2007, Dinis has played a central role in WSUP’s work in Mozambique, leading field operations, training community educators, and supporting local authorities to implement scalable WASH strategies. His work is grounded in a systems-thinking approach that integrates behaviour change, policy engagement, and community mobilisation.
Earlier, Dinis led WASH and youth programmes with CARE International and contributed to a World Bank-funded initiative training local leaders in hygiene and water supply. He has also supported national assessments on vulnerability and food security, and has enhanced his expertise through training in GIS, urban profiling, and community health.
Vasco Parente (acknowledgement)
Vasco is an environmental scientist with advanced studies in Sanitary Engineering, Project Management for Cooperation and Development, and a Master’s in Humanitarian Action (ongoing). Over 15 years of experience in water and sanitation, including operational management of wastewater treatment systems in Portugal, decentralised sanitation projects in Mozambique, and technical consulting for the World Bank’s Urban Sanitation Project.
Vasco is currently a Technical Consultant at TPF for Águas do Tejo Atlântico, focusing on managing industrial wastewater inflows. Vasco volunteered with Wasser für Wasser as a WASH Knowledge Advisor in Mozambique.
Guy Norman (acknowledgement)
Guy Norman was previously Director of Research & Evaluation at WSUP, with close involvement in the MapSan trial.
Following an earlier career as a scientific translator in Spain, Guy gained a PhD looking at slum sanitation in African contexts, and joined WSUP in 2010. Over his period at WSUP, Guy strengthened WSUP’s processes for monitoring and evaluation, initiated and developed WSUP’s technical publication output, and conceived and led the Urban Sanitation Research Initiative 2016–2020, a £4m DFID-funded programme of research-into-policy which delivered around 20 separate research projects, mostly in Kenya, Ghana and Bangladesh.
Guy was instrumental in laying the groundwork to enable the MapSan trial, arguing for the importance of a rigorous evaluation of this type in a shared sanitation context, leading early discussions with the key researchers, and facilitating initial contact between the researchers and the Maputo team. He maintained close involvement in the trial throughout the intervention and in subsequent years: “it’s wonderful to look back on work 10 years ago, and see that it has had lasting real impact”.
Guy currently works as an independent consultant through his company Urban Research.
