Uganda

Mr Lennart Hernander from Sweden is the new representative of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Uganda. He heads the LWF Department for World Service (DWS) Uganda program effective January 2009, succeeding Mr Craig Kippels from the USA, who has led DWS work there since early 2004.

Hernander, 47, joins the LWF from the Church of Sweden where he was director for international finance from 2003 until 2008. He worked for the umbrella body, Swedish NGO Center for Development Cooperation, from 1989 to 2003, where he held various senior positions including director for administration, finance, planning and international development cooperation, as well as responsibility for projects in the East African region. Between 1985 and 1988 he was a budget and finance officer for the Östergötland County in southeastern Sweden, and the Lycsele Town Council in the north.

Hernander holds a bachelor of arts in economics and business administration from the Linköping University, Sweden, in addition to various short-term management training. He is a board member of the Geneva-based Ecumenical Loan Fund (ECLOF) since 2007, and since 2006, chairperson of the Fair Trade Sweden initiative, which seeks access to markets under better trade conditions for producers and workers who are economically marginalized by conventional trading systems worldwide.

Hernander and Heléne Wikström have two children. (220 words)