Cecilia Werner

Communications Manager at City of Varberg | Sweden

Cecilia Werner's greatest interests can be summarised in three terms: community development, communication, and relationships. As communications manager for one of the largest urban development projects of the Varberg municipality, she gets to combine all three. An interest in social development led Cecilia to study at the Department of Journalism at the University of Gothenburg and work as a journalist for 20 years. After an interlude as a project manager and copywriter at an advertising agency, she started working at the Varberg municipality to transform a central harbour area into the new city district Västerport. For almost a decade now, Cecilia has worked with citizen dialogue, both strategically and operationally (and very hands on!). At a time when democracy in many countries is being exposed to testing challenges, such as declining voter turnout and decreased political interest, she believes it is more important than ever to find new arenas where citizens can have their say.