User:MPourzaki (WMF)

Mehrdad Pourzaki

Lead Movement Communications Specialist, Wikimedia Foundation

About me

A citizen of the world, I'm from Iran and based in Canada. I have called Tehran, Toronto, Bangkok, Paris, Kabul, and Mexico City home. Lover of world cultures and travel, an avid learner, a former musician, yogi, and mostly vegetarian. I have a double major in Middle Eastern Studies and Human Biology from the University of Toronto, and a Master of development practice from the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po. I am a Wikimedian at heart and excited to share my life experience, diversified perspective, and cultivated skillset with a global movement of incredible individuals and groups striving for knowledge equity in the world.

My work

I have worked for over 10 years in various capacities in the nonprofit sector and international development. A pivotal part was based out of Bangkok where I worked across Asia and the Pacific with highly marginalized populations, youth leaders, and volunteer networks in the response to HIV. I have worked on communication, education, social justice, advocacy, human rights, and gender and sexual diversity with grassroots communities, international NGOs, and the UN. I have also worked on forced displacement and migration, a culmination of which was with IOM at the infamous Calais "jungle" in France.

Before joining the Wikimedia Foundation, I worked with UNESCO in Afghanistan on education reform and curriculum design with a focus on lifelong learning, 21st century skills, and digital literacy in a setting with a burgeoning population of youth and gripped with mis- and dis-information.

I joined the Wikimedia Foundation in June 2019 supporting the Movement Strategy process and its diverse stakeholders with information and knowledge management. Since February 2021, I have had the privilege of calling the Movement Communication team home.

Disclaimer: I work for or provide services to the Wikimedia Foundation, and this is the account I try to use for edits or statements I make in that role. However, the Foundation does not vet all my activity, so edits, statements, or other contributions made by this account may not reflect the views of the Foundation.

Contact me

سلام و درود بر همگی

E-mail: mpourzakiwikimedia.org

Role: Lead Movement Communications Specialist

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fr-1	Cet utilisateur dispose de connaissances de base en français.

es-1	Esta persona tiene un conocimiento básico del español.