Tanja Kisslinger is the Director of Communications at Veterinarians Without Borders North America/Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Amérique du Nord.
Tanja is a senior communications leader and cross-cultural storyteller with more than 18 years of experience supporting global health, humanitarian, and international development initiatives. She has led communications, public engagement, brand and content management strategies for organizations including CARE, SOS Children's Villages, Save the Children, and Medair, working across diverse and often fragile contexts to connect local realities with global audiences.
Her work is grounded in ethical, community-centred storytelling that brings visibility to systemic inequities, humanitarian crises, and locally driven solutions. Over the course of her career, Tanja has lived and worked across Africa, Asia, and Europe, shaping narratives alongside communities affected by displacement, food insecurity, gender inequality, and health crises.
Most recently, Tanja led CARE Canada’s multi-year Feed Her Future public engagement campaign, which focused on the social and gender norms shaping nutrition and health outcomes for women and children in Southern Africa. At Veterinarians Without Borders, she leads strategic communications across international development, humanitarian response, and companion animal health programming—amplifying the organization’s One Health approach and strengthening engagement with partners, supporters, and volunteers.
Tanja holds a Master’s degree in Criminology, an Honours degree in Psychology, and professional certifications in cross-cultural and emergency communications.
Based on field insights from Senegal, this blog examines how VWB’s COHERS program is helping drive early gender-transformative change at the household level — reshaping who decides, who acts, and how families respond to risks affecting both human and animal health.
#VETSVolunteerVoices brings you stories of our passionate VETS program volunteers from the field. Meet Hiya Goyal, a Communications Advisor who spent five months in Laos (November 2025–March 2026) with our local partner, Health Poverty Action, strengthening communications and knowledge sharing while exploring how listening and storytelling can bridge gaps between policy, research, and community experience.
In many regions, the difference between a minor health issue and a serious condition comes down to whether care can be reached in time. This blog explores the practical barriers to veterinary access — from distance to disrupted systems — and what changes when care becomes available.
