Vanessa Villegas-Carriedo

Vanessa joined ICIMOD on 16 December 2024. Prior to joining ICIMOD, she worked for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) under the United Nations Volunteer Programme (UNV), International Union for Conservation of Nature – Asia Regional Office (IUCN-ARO), the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) and the World Vision Foundation. She also served as a communications consultant for several international organisations such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and the World Bank (WB), where she developed and implemented project communication plans and produced communication, education, and public awareness (CEPA) materials.

Vanessa has a bachelor’s degree in development communication specialising in science communication and development management from the University of the Philippines at Los Baños. She is a Filipino national and holds a master’s degree in development communication from the University of the Philippines – Open University.

She has been working with international organisations as a communication expert, developing and implementing communication strategies for regional development projects across the Asia and the Pacific. In her 17 years of development communication practice, she has led several knowledge management, communication and outreach campaigns, community development, capacity building, and public relations work in areas of agriculture, education, environment, biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, and disaster risk.