Sara Cameron... Inside stories
February 2009-February 2012 Chief Communication, Advocacy and Partnerships, UNICEF Tanzania,
Led the team responsible for communication for behaviour and social change, advocacy, external relations and resource mobilization and managing innovative and strategic communications for children in Tanzania.
Conceived a national advocacy strategy for child rights engaging strong government and civil society commitment. The Children’s Agenda aims to increase investment in children by national and local government, by influencing budget and policy decisions. Four year strategy aims to mobilize central and local government commitment to the Top Ten Investments for Children.
Led the development of the communication strategy on violence against children following from the ground-breaking national survey of Violence Against Children by UNICEF, CDC, Muhimbili University.
Led the development and implementation of the inter-agency advocacy strategy for gender and human rights behalf of the UN Tanzania.
Guide the team responsible for evidence-based behaviour change strategies for child survival, HIV prevention, infant and young child feeding, and hygiene.
As Gender Team Leader for UNICEF Tanzania responsible for promoting and ensuring effective gender mainstreaming throughout the UNICEF programme including coordination of the gender strategy for the country programme.
November 2004 to January 2009 – Chief, Communication, Partnerships and Participation (CPP), UNICEF Kenya,
Led the Communication, Partnerships and Participation team with 12 staff and annual USD3.4m budget providing integrated communication support across the UNICEF Kenya country programme, including social policy advocacy, behaviour change communication, private sector partnerships, mass media and donor reporting.
Responsible for guiding the team in the development of innovative integrated communication strategies including: Malezi Bora, a national government-led strategy for reducing infant, child and maternal mortality by increasing use of routine maternal and child health and nutrition services. Conceptualized the Child Alive fund raising campaign supported by UNICEF and the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya. UNICEF Kenya won the UNICEF Innovation prize for Child Alive;
Managed the team that implemented the Look Out For Leaders Who Look Out For Children campaign which obtained signed commitments from parliamentary candidates in Kenya to invest in child survival, quality education and social protection.
Led the team that successfully advocated for children’s participation in school governance, now promoted by the Kenya Ministry of Education as central to addressing school conflict;
Led UNICEF communication during the 2007/8 post-election crisis.
Responsible for building the Kenya Communication for Development team and guiding solid communication research including on male circumcision, corporate giving for children, impact of media on social development for children, food fortification.
Achieved important advances/increased efficiencies in the creativity and quality of print materials, TV and radio spot development.
October 2003 to October 2004 – Communication Officer/Donor Relations, UNICEF Iraq, Iraq Support Centre in Amman,
Led the Communications/Donor Relations team in UNICEF Iraq with a USD1m budget and 4 staff working in media, programme communication, youth, gender and donor relations.
Responsible for managing media in a highly sensitive environment,
Effectively managed donor relations for UNICEF Iraq, involving more than 50 donors who had contributed USD140M to UNICEF Iraq in 2003/4; donor relations management included proactive and responsive engagement, production of quality proposals and reports, tracking problem areas and maintaining transparency and trust – especially important in view of limited staff movement inside Iraq; Included preparation and delivery on time of more than 50 high quality donor reports in 12 months.
December 2001 TO OCTOBER 2003 – Communication Officer, UNICEF Division of Communications, New York
Deputy for UNICEF’s global Advocacy for Immunization programme; Coordinated the Advocacy and Communication Task Force of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI); Through the ACTF worked with colleagues in the GAVI Secretariat, WHO, Gates Foundation, AED and PATH, among others, to develop/coordinate joint strategy and work-plans to promote new vaccines and routine immunization;
Supported the UNICEF global Immunization Plus team with the production of communications and advocacy materials.
Researched and wrote feature stories on immunization issues including work on neo-natal tetanus in Nepal, the vaccine trail in Senegal and the pre-invasion polio campaign in Iraq – visiting Basra and Baghdad in November 2002..
1996 to 2001 – Social Development and Communications Consultant Based in New York
For UNICEF HQ, produced case-studies of programmes that are reaching some of the most excluded and disadvantaged children in the world; involved original research in Sudan, Suriname, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, and India
Conceived, researched and wrote Out of War: True Stories from the Front Lines of the Children’s Movement for Peace in Colombia (Scholastic Press, September 2001) in cooperation with UNICEF.
Collaborated with CNN on a major television documentary Soldiers of Peace, A Children’s Crusade, about the Children’s Movement for Peace in Colombia, which was aired internationally in Fall 1999.
Advisor to Sesame Workshop on the Israeli/Palestinian/Jordanian version of Sesame Street, Rechov Sumsum / Shara’a Simsim; Contribute advice and concepts for this television programme for children aged 3 to 6 years promoting conflict resolution and mutual respect based on child rights.
Researched and wrote Pachamama's Children, (UNICEF TACRO 1997), examining poverty and the rights of children and women among rural populations of five Andean nations.
Other work includes contributions and editorial work for Schools That Learn (Doubleday, 2000) a Fifth Discipline Fieldbook on education by Peter Senge and others; co-authored Garment Workers and Urban Child Care (Save the Children USA, 1998) examining female garment workers, child care and SCF programmes in Bangladesh – and many other assignments.
1989 to 1996 – Social Development and Communications Consultant, Based in the Caribbean
Researched and wrote From Girls to Women (UNICEF Belize 1996) a life-cycle analysis of female health and related programmes in Belize. Project involved primary research conducted in health posts across the country.
Researched and wrote Girls and Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (TACRO, 1995) (2 vols) coordinating input from over 25 countries including government and NGOs. Widely used by UNICEF staff, NGOs and government counterparts to support gender-based programming. The report drew attention to positive and negative trends in policies and programming related to gender and provided detailed comparative statistical tables.
Researched/wrote Fragile Environment…Vulnerable Children (UNICEF TACRO 1996), on the rights of children and women and sustainable development in the Amazon region. The report was reprinted for distribution at the Rio+5 meeting for Heads of State in June 1997.
My first novel, Natural Enemies (Turner 1993), won a Turner Tomorrow Fellowship from Ted Turner. The novel drew on experience of six years residence and travel in East Africa and dealt with serious environmental problems in the context of a thriller. This novel also won the Edward Abbey Award for Ecofiction..
1982 to 1989 – Social Development and Communications Consultant, Based in Nepal
Led the team that produced an innovative situation analysis Children and Women of Nepal (UNICEF 1988);
Edited reports on girl’s education, water supply and sanitation, appropriate technology and the UNICEF programme in Nepal.
For 2 years, edited and designed a monthly magazine for the United Nations Women's Organization;
Provided the narration for several video documentaries produced by UNICEF/Nepal on such topics as iodine deficiency, education, immunization. Contributed feature stories for major publications on a wide range of topics including income generation for small-scale farmers, improving education access for girls in remote Himalayan communities and leading cultural events.
1980 to 1982 – Public Relations Consultant, Based in Nairobi, Kenya
From 1978-1980, for the IUCN/WWF Elephant Survey and Conservation Programme, I edited and designed a quarterly newsletter on the status and conservation of African elephants; ran workshops for students and other groups on the African elephant and conservation; designed and edited final report of the programme.
For the Breastfeeding Information Group in Nairobi I edited and designed a monthly newsletter for an NGO. Developed and helped to implement am advocacy strategy for the adoption of the Code for Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes that targeted key decision makers in the Ministry of Health. In 1982, with UNICEF I researched and wrote a review of breastfeeding promotion in Nairobi. I trained and worked as a Breastfeeding Counsellor and assisted health-care workers in Kawangware Squatter Settlement, Nairobi to develop a training guide for local Primary Health Care volunteers.
“Adolescence in Tanzania” UNICEF Tanzania 2011
“Out of War: True Stories from the Front Lines of the Children’s Movement for Peace in Colombia” (Scholastic Press, 2001) Published in Spanish as
“Constructores de Paz” (Editorial Norma, Bogotá, 2001). Published in French as “La Paix pour les Enfants” (Castor Poche, Flammarion, 2002)
Case Studies on Reaching the Unreached, in Papua New Guinea, Sudan, India and Bangladesh. Child Rights Advocacy Magazine (UNICEF, 2001/02)
“Reclaimed Territory: Civil Society against the Colombian War,” Development 43:3 September 2000 (Society for International Development)
“Children as Leaders: Lessons from Colombia’s Children’s Movement for Peace” in Peter Senge et.al. Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents and Everyone Who Cares About Education (Doubleday 2000)
“Creating a Community” in Peter Senge et.al. Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents and Everyone Who Cares About Education (Doubleday 2000)
(ed) Programming for Safe Motherhood (UNICEF HQ 2000)
“The Role of Children as Peace Makers in Colombia”, Development 43:1, March 2000 (Society for International Development)
Pachamama’s Children: Progress Against Poverty in the Andean Region (UNICEF/TACRO, 1997) Report and Fund Raising Brochure. Spanish edition 1998.
Fragile Environment...Vulnerable Children: Child Rights and Primary Environmental Care in the Amazon. (UNICEF/TACRO 1996) Report and fund raising brochure. Reprinted 1997. Portuguese edition 1998.
Garment Workers and Urban Child Care in Bangladesh (Save the Children (USA) 1998)
From Girls to Women, Growing Up Healthy in Belize (UNICEF/Belize, 1997)
Girls and Women in Latin America and the Caribbean 2 Vols (UNICEF/TACRO, 1995)
Children and Women of Nepal (UNICEF Nepal, 1987)
I was 24 years old in 1976 when I got on a plane for the first time and flew to Kenya. I had a backpack and a typewriter, and moved into the YWCA in Nairobi. I meant to stay for a year to complete research for a masters in Social Anthropology, but it was the beginning of a much longer journey. This site contains stories of some extraordinary people I encountered, and the work they are doing to transform the lives of children living in some of the hardest-to-reach places on earth.
Right: My husband, George McBean, and I met in Kenya in 1977. This is our “official” wedding photograph, Nairobi 1980. Back row: Gladys, John, Susie, me and George, Paulina; Front row: Barnaba, Erenaste, Pius. George and I have three wonderful children, Fergus, Ainslie and Ramsay McBean.
Work experience
Selected publications
About Sara Cameron
Baby yoga in the garden in Karen, Nairobi, with our son Fergus, early 1981. Photo by George McBean
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