Anna Svärd joined Barnfonden as Secretary General in May 2017.

Anna has broad experience from the business world. She has worked in business development, sales, marketing and branding in various positions in different companies. For five years before joining Barnfonden, she was responsible for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability at Trygg-Hansa, one of the largest insurance companies in Scandinavia. In this position, she was responsible for developing, implementing and communicating strategy. In 2016, she and her team received the prestigious “Communicator of the Year” award.

Anna has always focused on helping children and human rights in her previous work and worked closely with many NGOs, including volunteering work for the last seven years.

Martina Hibell has worked with international, child focused development, within different organizations since 2017, whereof eight years at Barnfonden. She is motivated by the possibility to support change in contexts where change appears impossible, and to find the key factors that need to be interlinked in order for this to happen.

As a Program Director she has been the head of organizational changes for a stronger and better development work. Martina believes in partnerships and has strengthened Barnfonden’s relations both with country offices and donors.

Her focus now will be to continue finding new and innovative collaborations with different kinds of actors in order to jointly contribute to a safer world for children.

The heat is burning in the afternoon in Ziro, Burkina Faso, and every seat in the shade is taken. An excited audience is waiting, while two young men test the microphones. It´s time for the weekly meeting about sexual and reproductive rights issues. The topic for the day: How to prevent HIV/AIDS.