Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, has named Stephen B. Sobhani to the newly created position of VP of international.

Sobhani will oversee the Workshop’s strategy in Sub-Saharan Africa with an emphasis on developing new multi-sector partnerships and resources for the organization’s health and education initiatives in that territory.

He will also lead the development of a global themes strategy, aligning the organization’s global network of partners to collaborate and leverage common content across the brand, featuring curricula on health, literacy, girls’ education, financial empowerment and tolerance.  Sobhani’s efforts will also focus on Sesame Workshop’s first-ever Global Health Initiative.

Sobhani joins Sesame Workshop with more than 14 years of experience at the UN Foundation, forging and leading a wide range of multi-sector alliances for the United Nations, international philanthropies, NGOs, and corporations. He also has extensive cross-discipline expertise in women’s and children’s health, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, and reproductive health.