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© 2013 Svenska missionsrådet. All Rights Reserved
© 2013 Svenska missionsrådet. All Rights Reserved
“I appreciate the relationships we have with member organizations and their partner organizations. It feels meaningful, and through them we are also a small piece of the puzzle in the operational work.”
Anders is deputy general secretary and is responsible for SMC’s development work. This means that he is responsible for the agreement with Sida, how we distribute Sida funds and monitoring how they are used.
The task also includes managing the delegation of work in the project officers’ group. Anders is also responsible for our anti-corruption work. He is a member of the management team and manages change processes, strategy issues and programme planning.
Anders was an aid worker for Interact for six years in Afghanistan. He has worked as a pastor and with disability issues in a refugee camp. He has studied theology and English at university level.
“The diversity within SMC is a big and exciting challenge. It is also interesting to work with the Churches’ international cooperation, we have so much to give and it is exciting to be a part of this and improve even more”.
As general secretary Eva Christina represents the organization in different contexts, for example internationally with the World Evangelical Alliance or the World Council of Churches, or in Sweden in relation to the member organizations in Sweden, and to Sida and the Foreign Office.
Eva Christina also participates in the general secretary network, which is a regular consultation process between general secretaries in the largest development organizations in Sweden.
Eva Christina has worked within the Church of Sweden, with Church of Sweden’s youth movement, Lutherhjälpen’s relations in East Europe and the Church of Sweden’s ecumenical and international cooperation, where she coordinated the cooperation within the Christian Council of Sweden.
In addition, Eva Christine has worked with international strategy and policy issues for the Church of Sweden and has been seconded to the World Council of Churches. Eva Christina is a qualified journalist and historian, and has studied in the former GDR.
“SMC is an interesting and fun forum with all the people from member organizations, different networks and all the guests that come. We are present in so many contexts. We learn new things and get new ideas all the time.”
Christine has the overall responsibility for SMC’s communication work, which means that she ensures that both the external and internal communication work is planned, monitored and developed.
For example, Christine ensures that an annual report is produced every year, she is a member of the management team and also works with the content and planning of different forums, such as seminars and courses.
Christina is a qualified journalist, she has studied history and the history of religion and attended Sida’s course at the Swedish Centre for Education in International Development in Sandö.
She has worked as a journalist, news editor and communicator and has been a volunteer in SBUF’s international committee and Forum Syd’s development cooperation committee.
“I think that economics is great fun, income statements and balance sheets, how it fits together and is analyzed. And I also like working with staff.”
Anders works with financial statements, periodical and annual accounting and the budget. His work also includes human resource issues. In addition, he also sits on the Board for the non-profit organization the Ecumenical Center.
Anders previously worked as administrative director for the Swedish Evangelical Mission, as financial manager for Myresjöhus and CEO for a business development company. He is a trained civil engineer specialized in industrial economics.
“I think it is fun to give lectures and hold trainings on development issues”.
Claes Johan reviews and monitors activities and assesses reports, especially projects in Southern Africa and Eastern Europe. Claes Johan is also responsible for the development and management of the project management system.
Claes Johan has a Master in development and international cooperation from the University of Gothenburg. He has worked with development cooperation at the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden, in both Sweden and Congo Brazzaville.
“My natural driving force is to constantly reflect on how an activity can be improved”.
Joanna works as a project officer. This means that she supports member organizations in planning, monitoring and assessing their development cooperation activities. She monitors the relevance, feasibility and cost effectiveness of activities, especially in North Africa and the Middle East.
Joanna also processes information activities and is responsible for the thematic area of gender equality.
Joanna is a political scientist with a focus on Middle Eastern politics and political Islam with qualifications from New Zeeland. She has previously worked for the Christian Council of Sweden with religion and conflict and with the ecumenical accompaniment programme. From this work she has great experience of working with international partners and staff in the field.
“I think it is fun to have the opportunity to meet so many interesting people from different countries and contexts. And the feeling that what we do makes a difference”.
Katherine works with advocacy on the freedom of religion or belief. This means that she produces material that explains the issue and why it is important for Sweden’s government to address this in the foreign policy.
Katherine tries to influence and create awareness among decision-makers and officials and also the general public, not least in the churches, and in the media, since it is important that people better understand religious freedom and why it is worth protecting.
Read more about the freedom of religion or belief
Katherine has studied development with a focus on international economic relations. She has worked as a volunteer for the Tearfund in South Africa and with adult education and advocacy in international issues for Christian organizations in London.
Before Katherine started working with advocacy she acted as project officer for SMC with responsibility for East and Southern Africa. In addition, she has worked in a global project run by Diakonia, the Church of Sweden and Save the Children.
“I enjoy the variation, having a lot of contact with people, both externally and internally. I also enjoy the variation in the types of tasks that I have.”
Birgitta divides her time between internal staff issues, such as recruitment, and support to organizations that send staff to other countries. She sometimes holds lectures on human resource issues, especially missionaries’ children, ”Third Culture Kids” and has written the book ”Children of two worlds” in Swedish.
Birgitta is a schoolteacher and besides Sweden has worked at a high school and teachers’ college in Burundi. She has worked for many years in the Swedish Pentecostal Mission.
“The fun part is to get out and meet organizations that we support and people that we cooperate with. To see the work in the field, the effects it has and what it means for the development in society”.
Joel manages applications and reports for development projects in Latin America. He also has an overall responsibility to monitor and analyze the results of activities for the annual report to Sida. In addition, Joel works with developing policy and methods for the right-based perspective.
Joel has a Master in Social Science and Spanish from Uppsala University. He worked as a volunteer in Paraguay for six months.
“I think that the interaction with people is fun. I also enjoy working together with others on an application and see the work improving. I also learn a lot from traveling with the member organizations.”
Joel manages the projects in Asia, which means that he works with member organizations’ applications, monitoring and reporting. He is also responsible for the improvement of conflict analysis in the work of member organizations. In addition, he also works with SMC’s development philosophy.
Joel has an education in political science with a focus on peace issues. He has worked for Diakonia in Thailand and Sri Lanka.
“I like evaluations and long to stimulate learning in organisations in a simple and useful way. To t is great fun guiding group discussions; reflections, workshops and learning. To travel and visit visit member organizations and their partners are the best oppurtunities for learning and development.”
Lorentz is responsible for SMC’s evaluation work and provides advice and support to member organizations that are undertaking different types of evaluations. The work is to a large part regulated by our evaluation policy.
Lorentz also works with organizational learning, which is about providing space for member organizations to meet and exchange experiences and to develop their different systems for learning, such as archiving and documentation.
Lorentz has a Master in development studies with focus on rural development, environment and economy. He has lived in Tanzania, Kenya and Sudan for 15 years.
“It’s fun when you learn something new which can be used in your work and when you feel that what you do is not just formalities, but a part of a larger context.”
Tomas is a financial controller, a task that is closely connected to the channeling of funds.
In part it concerns monitoring how member organizations follow agreements and audit instructions. It also concerns supporting project officers in their work with final reports, such as ensuring that final reports are complete and writing assessments about economy and audits.
In addition, Tomas works with ongoing financial routines such as bookkeeping, payments and balancing accounts connected to the grant management and SMC’s own programme accounts.
Tomas has worked as financial manager for Light for the Peoples. He has a BA in the Baltics Economic Programme with a focus on Russia and the Baltics.
“I like to get an insight into many different areas, through my work tasks and the people I meet. It’s fun to learn new things all the time”.
Viktoria is responsible for communication through our communication channels, such as the web, newsletters and social media. She also works with press contacts and advocacy in development cooperation issues. She is the worker’s representative for SMC. Viktoria is also member of the board of CONCORD Sweden, where SMC is one of the members.
Viktoria is a qualified journalist and social pedagogue and has worked as a reporter and editor for different newspapers and for Hela Människan in Umeå.
“What I enjoy is meeting members and other organizations in Sweden and above all people in different countries who in their day to day lives are influenced by our work here. This is what gives me energy”.
Mikael manages activities in West and Central Africa, which means that he works with applications, monitoring and reporting of members.
Mikael is also the person that members and colleges can discuss issues about HIV and AIDS with. Mikael keeps himself updated in this area, sends out newsletters and participates in the network Forum HIV/AIDS.
Mikael is a social scientist with a focus on humanitarian aid. Before he came to SMC he worked for PMU as project leader for an EU-supported health project in Liberia.
Kristina is on parental leave.
“It is fun, but also challenging, to see how current research about missionary work and the role of the Church in society can be linked to the practice of member organizations.”
Kristina works with reflection about the role of the Church in society and religion and development. This means organizing seminars and compiling and distributing current knowledge via the web, reports and seminars. She also follows current developments in ecumenical cooperations, such as discussions about what role the missionary work has in the 21st century.
Kristina holds a doctorate in anthropology with a dissertation about how Pentecostal churches are dealing with the legacy of apartheid, based on fieldwork in South Africa.
She was previously Manager of the Swedish Institute of Missionary Research and prior to that taught anthropology and was principle of studies at Uppsala University and Dalarna College in Sweden.
