Field Programmes in Europe and Central Asia

Ms Petra Ulshoefer (Germany) was appointed Regional Director for Field Programmes in Europe and Central Asia at the level of Assistant Director-General, with effect from 1 May 2008. Born in 1948, Ms Ulshoefer holds an MA in Sociology and Social Anthropology, University of Bonn, Germany, and carried out postgraduate studies in rural development at the Technical University in Berlin, Germany, and in development sociology and development planning at the University of Bielefeld, Germany. Ms Ulshoefer began her career with the ILO in 1982 as Project Coordinator of ILO/DANIDA subregional projects on (Rural) Women Workers Education in Central America and the Dominican Republic. In 1989, she assumed the position of Regional Adviser and Regional Gender Specialist for Latin America, based in the Regional Office in Lima and in the MDT Santiago. In 1997, Ms Ulshoefer was transferred to Geneva headquarters as Senior Gender Specialist, in the Bureau for Gender Equality, and in 2002 she was appointed Director of the ILO's Subregional Office for Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest, Hungary. Prior to joining the ILO, she held the positions of Coordinator, Anthropological Research Project on Entrepreneurial Strategies and Working Conditions in the Plantation System in Central America, for the University of Bonn; and Assistant Professor, Department of Development Sociology and Development Planning, University of Bielefeld.