CARE Norway names Mrs Marte Gerhardsen as its new secretary general

OSLO (January 14, 2008) – CARE Norway has appointed Mrs Marte Gerhardsen to be its new secretary general.

"I am very excited to take on this challenging position" says Mrs Gerhardsen. "CARE is an exciting and strong organisation, and I look forward to making the organisation better known to the Norwegian people."
CARE Norway focuses on gender and development, and this is partly the reason Mrs Gerhardsen was attracted to the position. "It's imperative to have a strong gender perspective in all development work, because women's position is still so vulnerable in many countries."

Mrs Gerhardsen is currently working at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has extensive experience in working with humanitarian issues, and has been closely involved in the Oslo-process to ban cluster weapons. She worked as embassy secretary at the Norwegian embassy in Indonesia from 2003-2007, and took part in the Norwegian response to the Tsunami in 2004. She previously worked for the Norwegian Refugee Council, and was a member of its board of directors.

CARE Norway runs emergency aid and long-term development projects in 20 countries in Africa, Asia and the Balkans. CARE International is a confederation of 12 national CARE organizations, which have development and humanitarian relief programs in nearly 70 countries. CARE International employs more than 14,000 staff members, roughly 90% of whom are national citizens of the countries in which CARE works. CARE is non-sectarian and non-political, and is dedicated to fighting world poverty and the protection of human dignity.

Contact in Norway: Nils Mork, tel: (+47) 22 99 26 00
Email: [email protected]

Contact in Geneva Switzerland: William Dowell, tel: +41 79 590 3047 [email protected]