Simon van Woerden, MAGENTA Associate,

Simon van Woerden is a social and behaviour change and communications specialist with over a decade of international experience in humanitarian and development contexts across Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, and Europe. He has expertise in strategy design, risk communication, community engagement, and program management, and has led multimillion-dollar portfolios and diverse teams in complex emergency settings.

Most recently, he served as Chief of Social and Behaviour Change at UNICEF Sudan, where he directed a large national SBC portfolio and guided country-level strategy. Previously, he worked as Risk Communication Officer at WHO Europe, co-developing the COVID-19 chatbot HealthBuddy+ and leading infodemic management trainings for Member States. He has also held communications roles with WHO, UNDP, and international media outlets.

He holds a BA in International Relations, an MA in Journalism Studies (with honors), and an MA in Humanitarian Studies, and is the author and co-author of several publications on risk communication and infodemic management.