Having spent much of his professional career in Latin America on community water projects, former Peace Corps volunteer Greg Branch brings a wealth of experience to WEFTA. Greg lived and worked in Central America for 17 years, giving him unique insight into how small rural communities collaborate and work together. In his words, “understanding the intricacies of culture and applying them to a project such as a water system goes hand-in-hand with the engineering and design. You need both for success.”
A Tale of Two Organizations
Greg first worked with WEFTA (then known as Waterlines) in 2001, when he was the Peace Corps director for Panama’s water program. At that time WEFTA, led by Father Robert Cumberland, was conducting visits to our community projects in Panama. When Greg and Father Cumberland met, the two quickly realized that WEFTA could be helped by placing Peace Corps volunteers in communities in which WEFTA had projects. The logic was simple: Peace Corps had people on the ground but few resources for funding. WEFTA had financial resources but were limited in their ground support. As a result of the collaboration between WEFTA and the Peace Corps, more than 40 communities had been served with water projects when Greg left Panama in 2009.
For another important connection, Greg and WEFTA director Tim Wellman have been friends since 1998, when both were Peace Corps volunteers in El Salvador. Greg was therefore overjoyed when he was invited to return to Panama with Tim in 2023. He completed his third trip to Panama in February 2025, and was pleased to visit water systems that WEFTA and the Peace Corps had built together. Naturally, new projects were planned. Interestingly, every community the team visited revealed that their population is growing, resulting in an expanding need for additional quantities of water.
Motivating Forces
Greg believes that access to clean water and sanitation should be a basic human right, not a privilege for some. He is keen to continue volunteering with WEFTA to help bring this right to more of the world’s population. Greg enjoys being part of WEFTA’s mission to connect water professionals and donors with communities in the Americas and Africa. He is deeply impressed with the heartfelt gratitude shown by those helped by WEFTA projects.
Greg lives in Arlington, Virginia, where he supports his wife’s career at the U.S. Peace Corps in Washington, D.C. His highest priority is caring for their two children. He also runs a house repair and maintenance company. “In many ways,” says Greg, “it is cut from the same cloth as my overseas community service work.” We agree, and we appreciate your many contributions, Greg!
