Bridging borders for global impact

Meet Louise Heegaard! Since joining DHI’s International Development team in 2022, she’s been focused on building meaningful connections between people, ideas and funding, mainly across Africa. Born in Denmark, she spent her childhood in Algeria and France, and is now based in Sweden. Inspired by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren’s stories of strength and honesty, Louise brings empathy, openness and a truly international outlook to her work every day.

Hi Louise, please tell us about yourself and what you do! 

Since 1 June 2022, I’ve been part of DHI’s International Development department. I am based in our Stockholm office. I’m Danish, but I grew up in Algeria and France due to my father’s work as an engineer. My adventurous parents took my brother and I across every corner of Algeria and through several West African Sahel countries in a 4x4! These early experiences as well as my academic background in political sciences and international relations shaped my worldview and sparked my passion for working with international development.

As a Partnerships and Funding Mobilisation Expert, I focus on building and nurturing long-term relationships with key clients and financiers — especially across the African continent. My role is all about matchmaking: connecting needs with funding to drive greater impact for water environments and the communities that depend on them. I also support colleagues across DHI by opening doors to relevant industrial, governmental and scientific organisations, and I represent DHI in networks like the Action Platform for Source-to-Sea Management (S2S Platform).

What aspects of your role bring you the most fulfilment or align with your personal values? 

I love that I get to use my soft skills to mobilise funding and build trust. Meeting people at international conferences — like the UN Ocean Conference in Nice in June — gives me the chance to align my work with my personal values: authenticity, empathy and strong communication. At the end of the day, trust is what leads to meaningful partnerships and signed contracts.

Could you share an example of a project or partnership that was particularly impactful or memorable during your time at DHI? 

One standout moment was attending a high-level stakeholder event in Kampala on Transboundary Water Resources Management in Africa hosted by the Government of Uganda, the African Ministers’ Council on Water and the African Network Basin Organizations. DHI was the only consultancy present, and we gathered ‘friends and future friends of DHI’ from 12 lake and river basin organisations (LRBO) for a group photo. That photo now hangs in my home office as a reminder of DHI’s commitment to the UN Water Agenda with the deliverable to work with LRBOs worldwide on common shared water resources to enable effective adaptation, mitigation and climate resilience. 

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working? 

Inspired by my oldest daughter, I earned my Open Water Diving certificate last summer in Spain. Scuba diving has opened a whole new world for me! After the Africa Water Week in Cairo, I went diving in Alexandria Harbour and caught glimpses of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World. Unfortunately, visibility was less than a metre… maybe something DHI could help improve?

If you could have dinner with anyone, living or from history, who would he/she be and why? 

I’d love to dine with Swedish author Astrid Lindgren since I am a big fan of storytelling. Astrid Lindgren’s stories are full of warmth, humour and timeless themes like friendship, loss and love. When I worked for a Danish NGO, I even proposed referencing one of her most famous characters as a role model to inspire children, especially girls, to have a ‘Pippi Longstocking attitude’: To speak up, to be strong-willed and to have fun!