Alessandra Pigni

Alessandra Pigni is a psychologist and organizational consultant who supports individuals working in the humanitarian and development sector. As a psychologist with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) she has worked extensively in the Middle East and in China. She’s been based in Jerusalem providing mindfulness–based staff care and organizational development interventions, and worked with activists and women human rights’ defenders promoting self–care as a basis for action.

Pigni started a project called Mindfulness for NGOs to bring mindfulness–based interventions for stress reduction and burnout prevention to aid workers. She taught mindfulness to aid workers and activists in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. She has published articles in academic and non–academic publications, and spoken at conferences about aid workers’ wellbeing. Her work has appeared on BBC Radio Oxford, Channel 4 for Thought TV, Transformation/Open Democracy, and in sector publications such as People in Aid, Devex, Aidpreneur, WhyDev and the humanitarian news agency Irin News. Alessandra Pigni is currently a visiting research fellow at the University of Oxford, continuing to research aid workers’ wellbeing. She has a wide following among aid workers and her work is well regarded by both humanitarian practitioners and academics.