In memory of Lotte Grauballe

Our clever, revered and much respected colleague Ms. Lotte Grauballe passed away peacefully on 9 July after years of battling cancer. She will be laid to rest on 14 July in Copenhagen.

Journalist Lotte Grauballe was a well-known and cherished colleague in the Nordic and international development aid sector with a broad network and extensive experience working in conflict-ridden countries in Africa.

In 2011, in the year of the so-called “Arab spring”, she joined IMS’ Middle East and North Africa department where she took on the difficult task of building a new media development programme in Tunisia in support of flourishing independent media and press freedom. Based in Tunis, she experienced the country’s first democratic elections and wrote about it passionately. Lotte was able to secure order in the chaos of new media initiatives under difficult circumstances and did so with an unrelinguishing determination and a cultural sensitivity that made her unique and a cherished colleague and friend.

Prior to her position at IMS, Lotte worked as country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Uganda and Sudan and for the Danish organisation Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke in Kenya.

Lotte Grauballe was born on 10 June 1966 and passed away at the age of 49 on 9 July 2015.

She will be missed by the many, many people whose lives she touched.