Prior to this, James was UNICEF’s Chief of Media & External Relations in Sri Lanka at the height of the civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam. He has an MA degree in Media and Communications and has been active in media, publishing and information for more than 15 years, first as a journalist in his native Australia, then as an editor.

He started his career with UNICEF in Angola in 2002, arriving six months after a three-decade war ended. In 2005 he moved to Zimbabwe where he led the UN’s advocacy strategy to revitalize financial aid to Zimbabwean children and refocus the media’s attention from politics to people. James has done emergency stints in Darfur, Somalia, Kenya, Mozambique and most recently in Libya.

Before joining UNICEF he wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, and a string of magazines and publications abroad. During this time, he rode bulls, jumped off tall buildings, boxed a round with the world lightweight champion (he still has all his original teeth), and interviewed people from David Beckham to Richard Branson and the Dalai Lama. He is married with three young children.

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