Two new SDC vice-directors appointed

Maya Tissafi, who was born in 1965 in Hamburg and raised in Bern, currently heads the East and Southern Africa Division of the SDC. She has a degree in social work and health sciences and has completed further studies in mediation. She has been active in development cooperation since 1993, working initially as a programme coordinator for cfd The feminist Peace Organisation [Christlicher Friedensdienst] in former Yugoslavia, Palestine/Israel and in the Maghreb. From 2000 to 2002, she worked with SolidarMed as a technical advisor on an SDC mandate to implement health-care reforms in Tanzania and as head of the SolidarMed Cooperation Office in Ifakara. In 2002, she took up a position at the SDC head office in the Section Governance, of which she was appointed head in 2005. In 2006, she became head of the Section Social Development, and since 2008 she has been head of the East and Southern Africa Division. 

Michel Mordasini, who was born in 1954 in Geneva, is currently Swiss Executive-Director at the World Bank. He has a degree in economics and has completed additional studies in international relations and development policy. He worked for the ICRC for seven years, joining missions that took him to Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, Uganda, Pakistan und South Africa. In 1988, he was appointed deputy-coordinator in the SDC Cooperation Offices in Islamabad, and in 1991 in Dar es Salaam. In 1995, Mr Mordasini was recruited by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (seco) where initially he headed the Section for Payments and Debt-Relief Measures in the Division for Economic Development Cooperation, and from 1998 he headed the Section for Multilateral Finance Institutions. In 2001, Mr Mordasini was appointed Deputy-head of Division and Head of Operations. Since 1 November 2006, he has been Ambassador and Executive-Director of Switzerland at the World Bank in Washington. In this function he is a member of the Executive Council, which determines the policies and operations of the World Bank in the fight against poverty. In addition, he represents the interests of the eight Eastern European and Central Asian member states of the Swiss voting group.  

For further information:
Martin Dahinden, Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Tel: +41 31 322 34 01

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