Episode #12 - Elisabeth Rasmusson

Elisabeth Rasmusson is a former Secretary-General of Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). She also held various leadership positions with the UN, including as the first ever female Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) in the system. Rasmusson’s career also took her to various other operations, including in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Uganda and more. She also had a key role in establishing the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, as part of NRC. In this episode, Rasmusson walks us through her experience as the first female HC when she was deployed to Uganda and the challenges she faced on the job from day one. She also looks back at her time in the NRC, and how an incident with her assistant changed her management style.    Disclaimer: The opinions and memories expressed in the “I Was There” podcast series are those of each individual speaker and do not imply the expression of any opinion or responsibility on the part of UN OCHA.