Chair of FORUM, CEO of Australian Volunteers International
Dimity Fifer is Chief Executive Officer of Australian Volunteers International, Australia’s largest and most experienced international volunteer cooperation organisation.
Dimity has been a Board member of the Australian Council for International Development since 2006 and also serves on the Board of FORUM, the international peak body of international volunteer cooperation agencies. She attended the Australia 2020 Summit earlier this year as part of the Foreign Policy stream, is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (Victoria) and received a Centenary Medal in 2001 for leadership in social policy.
She has extensive experience in people and community development and social justice, previously serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Council of Social Service and as a member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
Deidre Murray
Director of Comhlámh
Deidre spent a number of years teaching at third level in France and then with VSO in China. She also spent 10 years working as Student Officer with the Irish Council for International Students in Ireland, managing fellowships, delivering cross cultural training, participating in fora on development, multiculturalism and racism. She has had a long engagement on a voluntary basis in development education, and spent 6 years in Ethiopia with a number of different NGOs working in project management and as a gender advisor. She commenced working as the Director of Comhlámh in June, 2008.
Peter Reicher
Chair of Hungarian Volunteer Sending Foundation
Peter Reicher has been the chairman of the HVSF since 2005. He is also a member of the steering group for CONCORD (Bruxelles). He has worked on the Hungarian Law of Volunteers, and has given seminars in several countries, including Sudan, South Africa, Germany, Mozambique and Japan.
Peter is a graduate in law from Eotos Lorand University and a Graduate Certificate in Engineering in Civil and Ports of the Technical University of Budapest.
Brian Rockliffe
Director of the VSO Federation
Brian Rockliffe is Director of the VSO Federation. Built on a British foundation, the VSO federation now includes 5 members: VSO UK, VSO Netherlands, VSO Bahaginan (Philippines), VSO Jitolee (Kenya) and CUSO-VSO (Canada), with associates in Australia, India and Ireland. As a director of VSO for the last 21 years, Brian has led the development of the federation. He has also done much to develop the concept of volunteering, through the development of the LINKS program, of initiatives in support of national volunteering and of distinctive VSO programs for young people, including Global Xchange. Brian worked as a volunteer in Tanzania and has also worked in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Jean Tan
Executive Director, Singapore International Foundation (SIF)
Jean Tan joined the Singapore International Foundation as its Executive Director on 1 October, 2008. Prior to this, she was Press Secretary to the Manpower Minister and Director of Communications at the ministry. Her earlier posts included Deputy Director, Media Division, Ministry of Information and the Arts and concurrently Deputy Director, Singapore Film Commission. She was First Secretary at the Singapore Embassy in Washington from 1996-1999 where she set up Singapore’s first overseas public affairs office. Jean was awarded the Singapore Government Merit Scholarship to pursue a Master of Science (Mass Communications) in the US. She also holds postgraduate qualifications in linguistics. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, travel, theatre and dance.
Nita Kapoor
Director, Fredskorpset (FK Norway)
Nita Kapoor has been Director of FK Norway since August 2009. She has previously held the position as Head of Information in Olympic Aid during the 1994 Olympic games in Lillehammer, and she was Project Manager in Norwegian People’s Aid until 1996, when she became political adviser to the Minister of Culture in the Norwegian government led by Prime Minister Torbjørn Jagland 1996-97. In the period 1998-2000 she held the position of Senior Vice President and Director of Communications in NSB – the Norwegian State Railways, after which she was appointed leader of the National Commission on Violence against Women ( 2001-03 ) by the Ministry of Justice and the Police. In 2004 she entered the position as Head of Culture in The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Kapoor has also worked with Public relations and media within insurance and banking, and been independent consultant in the areas of management and organizational development. She has since 1978 held a number of honorary positions in institutions and NGOs in Norway concerned with media, education, human rights and development issues. Kapoor was a member of the FK board in the period 2001-2004.
Meet the Executive Board of the ExecutiveRencontre FORUM
Forum’s Executive members are:
Dimity Fifer
Chair of FORUM, CEO of Australian Volunteers International
Dimity Fifer is Chief Executive Officer of Australian Volunteers International, Australia’s largest and most experienced international volunteer cooperation organisation.
Dimity has been a Board member of the Australian Council for International Development since 2006 and also serves on the Board of FORUM, the international peak body of international volunteer cooperation agencies. She attended the Australia 2020 Summit earlier this year as part of the Foreign Policy stream, is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (Victoria) and received a Centenary Medal in 2001 for leadership in social policy.
She has extensive experience in people and community development and social justice, previously serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Council of Social Service and as a member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
Deidre Murray
Director of Comhlámh
Deidre spent a number of years teaching at third level in France and then with VSO in China. She also spent 10 years working as Student Officer with the Irish Council for International Students in Ireland, managing fellowships, delivering cross cultural training, participating in fora on development, multiculturalism and racism. She has had a long engagement on a voluntary basis in development education, and spent 6 years in Ethiopia with a number of different NGOs working in project management and as a gender advisor. She commenced working as the Director of Comhlámh in June, 2008.
Peter Reicher
Chair of Hungarian Volunteer Sending Foundation
Peter Reicher has been the chairman of the HVSF since 2005. He is also a member of the steering group for CONCORD (Bruxelles). He has worked on the Hungarian Law of Volunteers, and has given seminars in several countries, including Sudan, South Africa, Germany, Mozambique and Japan.
Peter is a graduate in law from Eotos Lorand University and a Graduate Certificate in Engineering in Civil and Ports of the Technical University of Budapest.
Brian Rockliffe
Director of the VSO Federation
Brian Rockliffe is Director of the VSO Federation. Built on a British foundation, the VSO federation now includes 5 members: VSO UK, VSO Netherlands, VSO Bahaginan (Philippines), VSO Jitolee (Kenya) and CUSO-VSO (Canada), with associates in Australia, India and Ireland. As a director of VSO for the last 21 years, Brian has led the development of the federation. He has also done much to develop the concept of volunteering, through the development of the LINKS program, of initiatives in support of national volunteering and of distinctive VSO programs for young people, including Global Xchange. Brian worked as a volunteer in Tanzania and has also worked in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Jean Tan
Executive Director, Singapore International Foundation (SIF)
Jean Tan joined the Singapore International Foundation as its Executive Director on 1 October, 2008. Prior to this, she was Press Secretary to the Manpower Minister and Director of Communications at the ministry. Her earlier posts included Deputy Director, Media Division, Ministry of Information and the Arts and concurrently Deputy Director, Singapore Film Commission. She was First Secretary at the Singapore Embassy in Washington from 1996-1999 where she set up Singapore’s first overseas public affairs office. Jean was awarded the Singapore Government Merit Scholarship to pursue a Master of Science (Mass Communications) in the US. She also holds postgraduate qualifications in linguistics. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, travel, theatre and dance.
Nita Kapoor
Director, Fredskorpset (FK Norway)
Nita Kapoor has been Director of FK Norway since August 2009. She has previously held the position as Head of Information in Olympic Aid during the 1994 Olympic games in Lillehammer, and she was Project Manager in Norwegian People’s Aid until 1996, when she became political adviser to the Minister of Culture in the Norwegian government led by Prime Minister Torbjørn Jagland 1996-97. In the period 1998-2000 she held the position of Senior Vice President and Director of Communications in NSB – the Norwegian State Railways, after which she was appointed leader of the National Commission on Violence against Women ( 2001-03 ) by the Ministry of Justice and the Police. In 2004 she entered the position as Head of Culture in The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Kapoor has also worked with Public relations and media within insurance and banking, and been independent consultant in the areas of management and organizational development. She has since 1978 held a number of honorary positions in institutions and NGOs in Norway concerned with media, education, human rights and development issues. Kapoor was a member of the FK board in the period 2001-2004.