wfn.org | AFSC: Martin Garate Appointed Director of International Division

[RByler@afsc.org]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10, 1997
Contact:  J.Ron Byler (215/241-7060)
or Aishah Shahidah Simmons (215/241-7056)

Martin Garate Named International Director
of the American Friends Service Committee

PHILADELPHIA - Martin Garate Diaz, a Chilean with more than 25 years of
experience in international development, has been appointed the director of
the International Division of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
He'll assume his new duties with AFSC, an international peace and social
justice organization, on April 28, 1997.
	"Martin has excellent experience with grassroots programming in various
parts of the world and is an able and experienced administrator," said Kara
Newell, executive director of the AFSC.  A Quaker, Martin was formerly the
director of the Comite de Servicio Chileno Cuaquero, an independent program
based in Santiago, Chile, originally established with AFSC support.  Martin
will oversee AFSC programs of development, relief and reconstruction,
training and support to local groups, and peacebuilding and reconciliation
work in more than 30 countries.
	"We must work in partnership with other non-governmental organizations in
the South on behalf of the millions of people who are marginalized by the
process of world globalization," said Martin Garate of his new assignment
with AFSC.  Garate believes that his appointment will send a clear message
about AFSC's commitment to its international partners -- those who help fund
its work, those who help to implement it, and its fellow Quaker service
agencies around the world.
	He has served as the co-director of the Comite de Servicio Chileno Cuaquero
since 1982.  In 1981, he was a founder and co-director of Secop, a
organization focusing on popular education to youth in Chile..  Since 1990,
he has also served as president of the international executive committee of
the Defense of Children International.  He is the secretary general of
ACCION, the Association of Chilean NGOs.
	Garate says his life has been firmly committed to working for justice.
"When people do not have enough to eat, or when they are not recognized as
persons - whether they're women, gays or lesbians, or persons of a race
other than white - life is destroyed," he said.
	At the Comite de Servicio Chileno Cuaquero, Martin leads 17 staff persons
working with youth and women in Santiago, Concepcion and Puerto Montt.  Work
with women focuses on the organization of women's groups, and training and
empowerment programs for pregnant and nursing mothers.  Youth work reaches
out to youth in working class communities, providing space for youth
activities and building networks of youth organizations.  Anti-militarism
programs also help youth gain conscientious objector status.
	Martin did his undergraduate work at the Catholic University in Santiago,
Chile, and in the United States at the University of Notre Dame  (B.A.,
Philosophy in 1963).  He earned a theology degree from Catholic University
in 1967 and an M.A. in economics from the University of Notre Dame in 1976.
"My background in theology and economics equips me to understand and
contribute to AFSC's deep commitments," said Garate.
	Early in his career, Martin was a parish pastor in several Chilean
communities.  He has also run a leadership training institute in Chile and
served as an educator for a leadership training program for Spanish
communities in five Midwestern states in the United States.  From 1977 until
1980, he worked for the Quaker United Nations office in New York City.
	Founded in 1917 to provide conscientious objectors with an opportunity to
aid civilian victims during World War I, today the AFSC has programs that
focus on issues related to economic justice, peace-building and
demilitarization, social justice, and youth, in the United States, Africa,
Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
	For more information, contact J.Ron Byler, director of media relations for
the AFSC, at (215) 241-7060.
-- 30 --
The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization which
includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace
and humanitarian service.  Its work is based on the Quaker belief in the
worth of every person, and faith in the power of love to overcome violence
and injustice.

J.Ron Byler
Director of Media Relations
American Friends Service Committee
PH: 215/241-7060
FAX: 215/241-7275
E-MAIL: RByler@afsc.org
http://www.afsc.org