About me

I like this picture above because it’s example of the serendipity of volunteering. When you volunteer you’re never sure where it will take you. More often than not there’s an adventure that opens up with all the opportunities and challenges. One moment in India I was writing a paper about a new way of understanding disaster management in an office in Dehli. The next I’m invited to present the paper alongside the Chairman of the Legislative Council Prof Jabir Husain in Patna, Bihar. It was a lesson that when you volunteer to get involved, you’re never quite sure where you’ll end up.

How I got into volunteering

After studying politics and international relations, I got into volunteering working for six months in New Delhi, India, with an Indian disaster management NGO in 1995.

After this experience, I worked as a full time volunteer for ATD Fourth World, a French anti-poverty NGO, in a number of different projects in London, Paris, Brussels and Guatemala City. During seven years of involvement, I worked on a range of educational initiatives with children and young people. Much of my time in Brussels and Guatemala City was helping to run ‘Street Libraries‘, a model of engagement pioneered by ATD Fourth World across the world. The introduction of information technology into Street Library activities was particularly developed in New York in the 1980′s. Part of my work with ATD Fourth World was to help develop that work in Guatemala in the late 1990′s.

Working with families that lived along the railway line in Guatemala City, 1998

In the UK, I have worked in a number of volunteer management roles, in particular with the Octopus Community Network, a partnership of nine community organisations in Islington, London.

I currently work for YouthNet, an online information and advice charity, as Head of Engagement and Support. As part of my role I manage the online advice and support service askTheSite on TheSite.org and the Need an Answer service on Lifetracks. I also champion volunteering internally at YouthNet and help to support and develop volunteer management practice.

I sit on the Board of Directors of the Association of Volunteer Managers and help to develop AVM’s online services.

For the last six years, I’ve been co-chair of the Guatemala Solidarity Network which recruits volunteer international accompaniers to support human rights defenders in Guatemala. To this end GSN works to raise awareness here in the UK about human rights issues in Guatemala, with a view to supporting Guatemalans who aim to bring about change in their country. I also sit on the editorial committee of Central America Report which is a UK-based magazine covering solidarity work and the major political, economic, social and cultural issues affecting Central America and its individual countries.

I’m also a trustee of the ATD Fourth World Trust.

Digital footprint

You can see my digital footprint over at About.me