Danidas chef fra 1996 til 2001, Ellen Margrethe Løj, går fra topjob i FN til at blive formand i en stor international NGO – PLAN International.
Plan announces the election of Ellen Margrethe Løj – the current Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Coordinator of United Nations Operation in Liberia – as the new Chair of its Board.
Ms Løj (63) comes to Plan with a wealth of international experiences, including most recently as Head of the UN mission in Liberia – a country which just have had its second democratic election since the end of its brutal 14-year civil war.
She will assume her role as Chair by February 2012, when her assignment with the UN ends.
Profound experience
Paul Arlman, retiring after 6 years serving as Plan International Chair, said:
– Plan as an international NGO in development needs profound experience and knowledge of both development processes and of the international scene.
– The challenges for Plan in a rapidly changing world are simply put, enormous, and I have the greatest confidence that Ellen will contribute to Plan’s work for children very successfully.
Ms Løj said:
– I am very pleased to have been selected for this position and I am looking forward to working closely with Plan.
– By using my experiences, I will do my best to ensure that Plan continues to make a difference on the ground through the delivery of the highest possible service for children and their communities and by working for the rights of children worldwide.
Liberia mission
Following a long career in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and many years in international diplomacy – including nearly 4 years as head of Danida and 6 years as Ambassador to the UN in New York, she was asked in 2008 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to lead the UN operation in Liberia.
Ms Løj is currently responsible for the UN mission which includes some 8.000 peacekeeping soldiers, 1.400 police officers and 1.500 civilian staff overseeing security and stability in the poor West african country.
The Liberian civil conflict claimed the lives of more than 250.000 people and displaced over one million.
She was previously the Danish Ambassador to the Czech Republic and prior to that, Permanent Representative of Denmark to the UN in New York, serving as the Danish representative on the UN Security Council in 2005-2006 – se http://unmil.org/2content.asp?third=52⊂=24&pgt=3
Man kan læse mere om PLAN på http://www.plandanmark.dk
