23.12.2008
New LWF Regional Representative in Central America
Pastor Philip G. Anderson from the USA is the new representative of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Central America, leading the LWF Department for World Service (DWS) operations in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. He took up this position in December 2008, succeeding Dr Alois Möller who had led DWS work there since 2004.Anderson, 61, an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, worked with DWS in the mid-1980s, and has several years' experience in community development work, advocacy for peace and human rights-related issues both in the United States of America and Central America. He was based in Washington DC, USA, for several years, working from 2007 to 2008 as a consultant for the Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations, seeking action on behalf of the people affected by the crisis in Darfur, western Sudan.
Between 2004 and 2005, he was interim director for education and advocacy at the Partners for Peace non-governmental organization, which advocates key issues for peace and justice among Israelis and Palestinians. He worked as executive director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, USA, 2002 to 2004, and as a public policy representative for governmental affairs at the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, 1996 to 2000. He was a regional organizer, 1990 to 1994, for the Minneapolis (Minnesota)-based Bread for the World network, advocating an end to hunger at home and abroad.
From 1985 to 1990, he was a senior program officer for the LWF/DWS El Salvador program. He was a missionary pastor and director for community development with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia (IELCO), 1978 to 1982, in Ibagué, in the southwestern region of Tolima.
Anderson holds a master of divinity from the Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary, St Paul, Minnesota, USA, and a bachelor of arts in social psychology from St Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. He also studied conflict management and leadership development at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Anderson and his wife Mavis have two adult daughters. (342 words)
More about DWS Central America at: www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DWS/Country_Programs/DWS-Central_America.html
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