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SCHR Key People
» Lesley-Anne
Knight
Lesley-Anne Knight was appointed Secretary General
of Caritas Internationalis during the 2007 General Assembly. She is the
first woman ever to have been elected to this position.
A British citizen, born in Zimbabwe, Lesley-Anne,
51, has more than 25 years of experience in international development.
She has lived and worked in eight countries in Africa, Latin America,
and Europe and speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
She holds a degree in English, French, Logic and Metaphysics and
post-graduate qualifications in Business Management.
Before coming to Caritas Internationalis,
Lesley-Anne was International Director of CAFOD (Caritas England and
Wales), where she was responsible for a staff of more than 200 people
working in over 60 countries. She previously served as CAFOD's Programme
Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean and Head of Programme and
Partner Support.
In addition to her experience with CAFOD,
Lesley-Anne worked in Guatemala and Mexico during the 1980s for the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and OXFAM, and in
1999 was Emergencies Director of the UK-based charity HelpAge
International, where she was responsible for humanitarian and emergency
relief programmes in Northern Iraq, Kosovo/Macedonia, Mozambique, and
India.
» Robert
Glasser
Dr. Robert Glasser was appointed Secretary General
of CARE International in July 2007, and is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
He is responsible for coordinating the work of the 12 national member
organizations that come under the global CARE International umbrella.
The confederation has more than 60 years of experience and is one of the
world's largest non-religious, non-political humanitarian organizations
devoted to fighting poverty. CARE runs development programmes in nearly
70 countries and has a staff of nearly 15,000 employees in the field.
Approximately 90% are nationals in the countries where CARE works.
Robert Glasser, 48, was CARE Australia's Chief
Executive Officer 2003-07. At CARE Australia, he managed a large staff,
overseeing emergency relief and long term overseas development
programmes in countries including Cambodia, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea,
and Jordan.
Before joining CARE, Robert worked on
international energy, environmental and peace and conflict issues for a
number of organizations, including the U.S. Department of Energy,
Cornell University's Peace Studies Program and London's International
Institute for Strategic Studies. He is the author of numerous papers and
in 1991, he co-edited "Climate Change and Energy Policy" for
the American Institute of Physics. In 1995, he moved to Canberra to join
the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid), where he
became Assistant Director General.
» John
Nduna
Zambian-born John Nduna joined the Geneva-based
Coordinating Office of Action by Churches Together (ACT) International
as its director on April 1, 2006. He represents the World Council of
Churches in SCHR.
Mr. Nduna previously headed the ecumenical
organisation, Church Ecumenical Action in Sudan (CEAS), which operates
out of Nairobi. In joining ACT—a global alliance of churches and
related agencies responding to humanitarian emergencies—Mr. Nduna
brought with him two decades’ experience in the field of humanitarian
work and working in particular with refugees in various sectors such as
small business development, self-help and repatriation programs.
Mr. Nduna believes that as an ecumenical body one
of ACT’s strengths is that its 128-strong membership is well placed to
respond to humanitarian crises, at a local level through churches and
church councils and related agencies, as well as at a global
level.
Mr. Nduna was born in the Monze district in the
Southern region of Zambia, grew up in Kitwe and Lusaka in Zambia and has
worked in Africa for some 20 years with five years spent in Geneva,
Switzerland as the ACT International appeals officer for Africa.
He graduated from the University of Zambia with a
Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in economics, which led to an early
career in banking. His degree was later supplemented by an international
qualification in small business management from the International
Institute of Small Business Management in Hyderabad, India. But a desire
to “make a difference” saw him take up several appointments within
the field of humanitarian assistance and development, with a focus on
refugees in Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania. Mr. Nduna worked for,
amongst others, the Lutheran World Federation/Tanganyika Christian
Refugee Service, as its emergency project coordinator of its Burundi
Refugee Program in Tanzania. Of special concern to him is the continued
“lack of meaningful response to some of the world’s worst
humanitarian situations around the world, such as the ‘forgotten
emergencies’ of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Sudan.”
Mr. Nduna is married to Sydia and has three
children: Chimuka, Busiku and John (Jr.).
» Angelo Gnaedinger
Mr. Angelo Gnaedinger, born in 1951, trained as a
lawyer and served as examining magistrate in the Swiss canton of
Schaffhausen before joining the ICRC in 1984.
Following initial field assignments in the Middle
East and Africa he held various posts at the ICRC's Department of
Operations in Geneva. In particular, he was head of the Detention
Division from 1992 to 1994, Delegate-General for Western and Central
Europe and the Balkans from 1994 to 1998. In 1998, he was appointed
Delegate-General for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. He is
Director-General since 2002. Mr Gnaedinger is married and has two children.
» Eberhard
Hitzler
Reverend Eberhard Hitzler is the Director of the
Department for World Service of the Lutheran World Federation, based in
Geneva. The LWF is engaged in emergency response and development
cooperation in 37 countries. Mr. Hitzler has started work in this
capacity on 1st July 2006. He is a German citizen, with previous
experience in development work with church related NGOs and Churches. He
served as the Secretary for development policy and as Africa secretary
of the Evangelical Church in Germany just prior to joining the LWF. Mr.
Hitzler gained field experience in development work in Tanzania. He is
married and has two daughters.
» Bekele
Geleta
Having worked with vulnerable populations for more
than 20 years, Bekele has extensive experience in policy advice,
management and administration in humanitarian organizations. However, it
is his first-hand knowledge - having been a political prisoner and
refugee himself - that helps him truly understand the people for whom
Red Cross exists.
Bekele's involvement with the International Red
Cross and Red Crescent Movement began when he served as Secretary
General of the Ethiopian Red Cross from 1984-88. Under his leadership,
the organization improved its operational efficiency and was able to
help significantly more people affected by drought - increasing the
number of beneficiaries supported from 100,000 to one million.
From 1974 to 1977, he worked as General Manager of
the Franco-Ethiopian Railway Company, and from 1978 to 1982 as Urban
Development Officer for Irish Concern International.
After three years (1989-1991) as Vice Minister of
Transport and Communications, he joined the government's diplomatic
section, and held the position of Ambassador of Ethiopia to Japan in
1992.
In addition to his experience with the Movement,
Bekele worked as a programme manager with Care International in Kenya,
in 1994. In this role he worked closely with the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees to develop community self-management practices,
introduce public education and awareness systems, and support relief and
development activities.
Further along in his career, Bekele worked for the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
(1995-2007) where from 2004-2007 he was the Head of Regional Delegation
for South East Asia in Bangkok and from 1995-2003 served as the Head of
Africa Department.
In 2007 he was appointed General Manager of
International Operations for the Canadian Red Cross at its headquarters
in Ottawa. He was responsible for overseeing international programmes
and activities including disaster and emergency response activities,
development projects and overseas personnel.
On 1 July 2008, Bekele took over the position of
Secretary General of the IFRC, after being appointed by its Governing
Board.
Bekele holds a Masters in Economics from Leeds
University and a BA in politics and Economics from Addis Abeba
University.
» Barbara Stocking
Ms. Barbara Stocking, currently Vice Chair of SCHR,
joined Oxfam GB as Director
in May 2001. Oxfam is a humanitarian, development and campaigning agency,
whose purpose is to work with others to overcome poverty and suffering.
During the last 4 years, Barbara has led Oxfam's response to
humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, for the Tsunami and the
Pakistan Earthquake. She has strengthened Oxfam's campaigning (e.g. Make
Trade Fair, Education Now) and pushed for Oxfam's scale up of
development work e.g. on Livelihoods and HIV/Aids.
Previously a member of the top management team of
the National Health Service, in her eight years with the NHS, Barbara
worked as regional director and most recently as Director of the
Modernisation Agency, charged with modernising the NHS. Barbara has a
Masters degree in physiology, and has broad experience of healthcare
systems, policy and practice, including periods at the National Academy
of Sciences in the USA and with the World Health Organisation in West
Africa.
She is married to Dr John MacInnes and they have
two sons, Andrew 18 and Stephen 16.
» Jasmine Whitbread
Jasmine Whitbread was appointed Chief Executive of
Save the Children UK in November 2005. Save the Children is the world's
leading independent children's organisation, working with the most
vulnerable children to create real and lasting change in their lives.
Save the Children UK runs programmes in 50 countries, with 4,000 staff
globally and annual income of over £160 million. Jasmine is also a
Board member of the International Save the Children Alliance, a
confederation of 30 members working in over 120 countries.
Before joining Save the Children, Jasmine spent
six years with Oxfam GB, first as Regional Director in West Africa, and
then as International Director responsible for Oxfam's programmes
worldwide. Prior to this, Jasmine was Managing Director of a Thomson
Financial business, based in the US. She has a background in
international marketing in the high-technology sector.
Jasmine also spent two years as a VSO volunteer
with an organisation of disabled people in Uganda.Jasmine graduated in
English from the University of Bristol in 1986, and in 1997 completed
the Stanford Executive Program at the Graduate School of Business,
Stanford, California. She holds dual British/Swiss nationality and is
married with two children.
» Eva von Oelreich,
SCHR Executive Secretary
Ms. Eva von Oelreich is the Executive Secretary of
SCHR since 2005. She previously held several positions within the Red
Cross Red Crescent Movement, in the 1990s as the Director of
International Affairs of the Swedish Red Cross. Since 2000 she was Head
of the Disaster Preparedness and Response in the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Cross Societies, where she was also the
managing editor of the World Disasters Report and chair of the Steering
Committee of the ProVention Consortium.
Previously the vice-principal of a Stockholm
University, she has also written educational textbooks and holds a
Masters in Arts from Lund University, Sweden.
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