Simon’s entry into the world of international development came via journalism. Indeed the two strands of his career have remained intertwined ever since. But his professional journey actually began as a volunteer English teacher in southern Egypt. It was his first opportunity to see the vast gulf between his comfortable middle-class background in the UK, and the grinding poverty of the Middle East’s most populous nation.

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Following a stint as a freelance journalist, he joined the BBC as a sub-editor at the World Service before undertaking a series of assignments as foreign correspondent, first in North Africa, then in Egypt, and finally in South East Asia. Along the way he acquired the technical skills needed to cover the news and tell compelling stories on radio, television and online.  He came to grasp the responsibility that  a foreign reporter has in conveying the thoughts, words and experiences of communities in the developing world to audiences far away.  He also sensed the limitations of journalism as a means of encouraging positive change for those whose lives were the staple of news and broadcast journalism.

 

So when the opportunity came to join UNICEF’s Cairo office as head of communications, it was hard to turn it down. A succession of UNICEF postings, in Laos, Sudan, Jordan and Brussels broadened his understanding of the media and communication as a way of attracting attention – and resources -- to the needs of children living in the very worst of situations, and for driving positive change against negative social norms.

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Since leaving UNICEF in 2018, Simon has continued to work with the agency, authoring reports on the situation and needs of children in a variety of troubled locations, including South Asia, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Rohingya refugee camps of Bangladesh.

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