Simona Costanzo Sow

As Chief, Academic Partnerships at the United Nations Systems Staff College, Simona oversees relations with academic partners and creates spaces for a science-policy-society dialogue to develop capabilities to address today’s complex challenges holistically.  Previously, Simona designed and implemented learning and training formats for senior leaders in the UN System and beyond on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, related leadership approaches, systems thinking and policy coherence.    

Simona has extensive experience in policy advocacy, partnership building and networking in the inter-governmental sphere, as well as in civil society, academia and the private sector. She has a track record in capacity-building, non-formal education, learning and training, as well as community empowerment and stakeholder engagement.    

She previously worked with UNV and UNESCO, and led CCIVS, a global civil society organization at UNESCO HQ in Paris, for eight years. Simona holds a PhD in Geography from the Technical University of Munich, focusing on international migration, as well as a Master’s in International Cultural and Business Studies. She speaks five languages fluently and feels at home around the world, with roots in Italy and Germany and branches in Senegal. Simona is the mother of two amazing young women. 

 Corporate Experience

• Chief, Academic Partnerships, United Nations System Staff College, Germany, 2023 - Present

• Learning Portfolio Manager, Executive Leadership and Systems Thinking, United Nations System Staff College, Germany, 2016 - 2023

• Post-2015 Project Manager, United Nations Volunteers, Germany, 2012 - 2016

• International Year of Volunteers Plus 10, Project Manager, United Nations Volunteers, Germany, 2010 - 2012

• Consultant, self-employed, Turkey, Portugal, France 2009 - 2010

• Director, Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS), France, 2000 - 2008

• Programme Development Specialist, Multi-Community Purpose Centre (MCRC), Occupied Palestinian Territories, 1999

Academic Experience

• Adjunct Faculty, IE University, Spain, 2019 - Present 

Academic Background

• Ph.D. in Human Geography, Technical University of Munich, Germany, 1998

• Master’s Degree in International Cultural and Business Studies, Universität Passau, Germany, 1995