Safa Fanaian

Researcher - Social Science

Research team

Water, growth and inclusion > Gender equality and social inclusion

Areas of expertise

Urbanization Inclusion Finance Data dialogue

Safa Fanaian’s work focuses on water governance and economics, utilizing participatory research methods to explore equitable decision-making processes and enable water justice. Fanaian has over a decade of prior experience collaborating with diverse development agencies and universities to enhance water security globally. She also has extensive experience building negotiations and dialogues, managing networks, conducting mixed-methods research, working with big data and facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations. Her current research interests include urban river pollution and urban water governance, learning from dialogue processes, governance and policy impact assessments, and the exploration of sustainable finance models and blue bonds for water-related initiatives.

Fanaian was an Oxford-Indira Gandhi Scholar at the Oxford-India Centre for Sustainable Development, Somerville College, University of Oxford. She is also a National Geographic Explorer.

Current projects

No posts found.

Latest news for Safa Fanaian

Publications

January-February 2026 Research Journal Roundup

Roundup of research, journal and other academic articles from January and February 2026 ...

March 4, 2026

Women and girls from the village of Gayo in Ethiopia collect water from a rainwater pool. Photo: Martchan/Shutterstock

Blogs

Water justice is a prerequisite in the era of global water bankruptcy

As we observe the International Day for Water Justice, advancing transformative and justice-centered governance is crucial to achieving safe and equitable water for everyone ...

January 30, 2026

In the media

A hybrid governance model for irrigation management in Nepal

Safa Fanaian and Sumitra KC from IWMI and Santosh Kaini from the Government of Nepal explore how blending traditional and modern irrigation governance systems can enhance water management ...

October 29, 2025

A farmer visits a typical individually-owned five HP solar irrigation pump used for water entrepreneurship in Bihar, India. Photo: Shisher Shrestha/IWMI

Blogs

Water entrepreneurship can drive solar irrigation and climate mitigation in Nepal

Small solar pumps help individual farmers, but larger systems that serve collective fields could drive uptake and lift rural incomes across Nepal’s breadbasket, as lessons from its neighbor Indian state ...

June 23, 2025

A farmer uses an electric pump to extract groundwater to irrigate fields in the Barahathawa Municipality, Sarlahi, Nepal. Photo: Onion Films for IWMI

Blogs

Stakeholders in Nepal work together to enhance collective action for municipal groundwater management

The Barahathawa Municipality in southern Nepal shows how local leadership and multi-stakeholder collaboration can address complex and interconnected challenges in natural resource management ...

June 5, 2025