Dida Connor is a British national, fluent in French and Spanish, with over fifteen years of experience working as a specialist in the fields of strategic and crisis communications, advocacy, partnerships and resource mobilization, primarily for the United Nations (UN), as well as the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) sector, Government sector and private sector.  She has worked in Viet Nam, where she was based for several years, Thailand, Lao PDR, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and several countries in Africa.

As Spokesperson and Communications Officer for over ten years for the World Health Organization (WHO), Viet Nam and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), she oversaw communications, crisis communications, advocacy and partnership activities and conducted regional workshops and coaching courses in communications and crisis communications for UN staff and Government officials.  As WHO Viet Nam Spokesperson, she led the country communications response for public health emergencies including the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Avian Influenza and Cholera. She was also responsible for developing and managing a number of innovative, high-profile advocacy campaigns involving national and international celebrity ambassadors to help raise awareness of critical public health issues.

She later worked as Senior Communications Liaison Officer for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, where she managed communications and crisis communications for the Fund’s private sector partners, most notably the partnership with (PRODUCT)RED, founded by U2 frontman Bono and Bobby Shriver. She also supported strategic resource mobilization efforts, successfully raising over one million dollars from new donors and securing continued funding and replenishment from existing private sector partners.

As a senior consultant, primarily for the UN, as well as the governmental, NGO and private sectors, Dida continues to specialise in strategic and crisis communications, advocacy, partnerships and resource mobilization. She develops, implements and manages comprehensive strategies and advocacy campaigns, and provides coaching and training courses in internal, cross-cultural and crisis communications.

As a consultant, among several projects, she supported WHO’s strategic and crisis communications efforts for Ebola preparedness and prevention; as well as advocacy, partnerships and resource mobilization efforts for WHO’s Public Health Emergency Operations Centre Network and WHO’s Epidemic Intelligence for Open Sources Initiative. She led strategic communications, advocacy campaign development and fundraising activities for UN Women, New York and served as a strategic and crisis communications advisor to WHO’s Global Influenza Programme in WHO Headquarters, Geneva for over two years. She then joined WHO’s crisis communications team in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently she served as a senior communications and partnership advisor for the UNDP Resilience Hub for Africa and the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence.

Dida has created and directed several high-profile public relations and advocacy campaigns involving celebrity supporters and political figures, to raise funds and strengthen visibility of different organizations around the globe. She has successfully negotiated pro-bono advertising for her campaigns on major media outlets such as the BBC and CNN and secured sponsorship for public relations campaigns from fashion industry brands such as Nike and Adidas and celebrity figures such as Sir Elton John; U2 frontman, Bono; and Bill Gates.

She has also served as Press and Communications Officer for high-level dignitaries including former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, the and the WHO Envoy on Covid-19, Dr. David Nabarro.

Her work has led her to collaborate with a wide range of partners within the Government and political arena, the international private sector, the NGO sector and the entertainment and media industry. 

Dida serves on the Board of Directors for ‘Revision Youth,’ a US-based NGO focused on trauma healing for victims of human trafficking and abuse. She also has a passion for photography and has sold and published several of her photos taken during her work placements around the world.