The Systems Change Group brings together stakeholders form all sectors to take forward the implementation the Way Ahead. It does this by stimulating take up of the recommendations, tracking and sharing progress and responding to opportunities, challenges and changes in the environment as transition to the new system unfolds.
Jeanette Bain-Burnett, Greater London Authority
James Banks, London Funders
James joined London Funders in September 2017, after working and volunteering in London’s voluntary and community sector for over 15 years. Immediately prior to joining the team, James was Chief Executive at Greater London Volunteering, the regional membership body for social action charities in the capital, and worked closely with London Funders and partners on The Way Ahead initiative, and also worked as a consultant across London’s civil society.
Previous roles have included Trustee or management roles in civil society support organisations in four London boroughs, as well as being Chief Executive at the Royal Courts of Justice Advice Bureau in central London. James has been Chair of South West London Law Centres since 2009, and on the Trustee Board of his local Citizens Advice service since 2010, and continues to volunteer in his local community outside of work.
Current role: Specialist Support
Wider Networks: Frontline – volunteers, groups and organisations, Local Support, London Hub, Greater London Authority, London Councils, Business
Antony Berwick-Smith, Voluntary Action Islington
Yolande Burgess, London Councils
Yolande leads on Young People’s Education and Skills, and Grants and Community Services. With over 25 years in the public sector, Yolande’s responsibilities have included partnership working and delivery, most notably the implementation of the New Deal programme across north London.
She has substantial experience of developing and implementing post-16 education policy and strategy - guiding work in areas such special educational needs and careers guidance - planning and commissioning learning provision locally and regionally, and managing portfolios of large and complex education contracts. Yolande actively contributes to national policy making and local implementation.
Current role: Local government support
Wider Networks: Elected representatives, education policy networks, voluntary sector organisations, Partnership for Young London, further and higher education organisations, Greater London Authority
Lisa Charalambous, London Borough of Camden
Lisa has been at Camden Council for nearly 5 years. She is a Community Partner and a part of the Community Partnership Team whose role is to develop and implement the Camden’s VCS strategy, support its £5.1m funding programme and develop stronger partnerships between civil society organisations and the Council. By developing closer links with other teams in the Council, it is envisaged that the Council will have a more consistent approach to the sector and increase opportunities for closer collaboration and partnership working.
Lisa was involved in the development of Camden’s 7 year Strategic Partner Fund, now in its second year, which provides core funding to 23 civil society organisations in Camden and who are the focus for the council’s relationship with civil society. Lisa is currently leading on the Council’s review of the future infrastructure support needs of civil society organisations in Camden, which should be completed by the summer of 2018.
Before joining Camden Council Lisa worked in the voluntary and community sector in various roles including frontline service delivery organisations and second tier organisations. She was manager of the Central London CVS Network that was a sub-regional network of six CVS that came together to collaborate, deliver sub-regional programmes and have increased access to funding opportunities. A major success was the securing of over £1.5 m for three ESF projects to build capacity in the sector and overseeing the Capacity Builders programme.
Lisa has also been a freelancer delivering a range of services including business planning, organisational development, facilitation and evaluation.
Current role: Local public sector
Wider Networks: London Councils, Elected Representatives, Frontline – volunteers, groups and organisations
Karen Chillman, Voluntary Action Croydon
Karen has over 35 years’ experience of working in the sector (infrastructure and direct delivery), more than 15 years of which are in senior management positions. Spending six years as a Trustee of Greater London Volunteering and is an active member of the South London Volunteering Networks.
Since taking over management of the Volunteer Centre in Croydon, it has moved from a small back street office to a prominent location in the centre of Croydon. Despite cuts in funding Karen has worked a team of staff and Volunteers to develop new and initiative ways of working, which had made it possible to maintain an open-access service six days a week to support VCS organisations and those who want to connect within their communities.
This has included pioneering work with the private sector, including gaining premises in partnership with one of the country’s major shopping centre operators, and also with the public sector (including some focused projects working with ex-offenders, young people and people with disabilities).
Karen is recognised as a leader within the volunteering community in London. She has and is still involved in a wide range of pan-London volunteering initiatives, and also working at a strategic level exploring new ways of connecting people to projects through online platforms, apps and other new and innovative approaches to connecting, while maintaining the human contact important to most vulrable people.
Karen is also an active volunteer herself with many grassroots organisations and is well networked in Croydon. This experience equips Karen with a perspective from beyond the traditional “infrastructure” sector, and any ideas can be tested out through her lived experience as a community activist and volunteer.
Current role: Head of Volunteering, Volunteer Centre Manager. Trustee Basingstoke Voluntary Action: Croydon Commitment (A Charity that links Business with Not-for-profits)
Wider Networks: Frontline – volunteers, groups and organisations, Business, Local Public Sector
Margaret Cooney, London Plus
Margaret Cooney joined London Plus in June 2018, after working in the voluntary, public and social enterprise sectors for over 20 years. Prior to joining London Plus she worked at VInspired, the youth social action and volunteering charity where she supported a digital transformation project and developed a reward and recognition scheme for young volunteers linked to the European Youth card, in partnership with Team London.
Her main achievement while Deputy Director, England at Big Lottery Fund was to set up the Big Local programme which invested £220m via Local Trust to be delivered in 150 areas in England to support people to get involved and lead change in their local community.
Margaret has held a number of trustee roles in civil society and cultural sector organisations; including Community Development Foundation, Communities into Training and Employment, and ZInc Arts & Education.
Current role: Specialist Support
Wider Networks: Greater London Authority, Local Public Sector, Independent Funders/Philanthropy, Business Karen Chillman, Croydon Voluntary Action
Jake Ferguson, Hackney CVS
Jake is Chief Executive of Hackney CVS, the umbrella organisation which supports Hackney’s large voluntary and community sector. Jake joined Hackney CVS in 2001. Since then he has helped the organisation grow from an annual turnover of £300k to over £3.5m in recent years. His background as a medical student led him to work in Mosside Manchester on Diabetes research, and he then moved to London to focus on environment and health impact assessment at University College London. He has worked with Drug Action Teams and public health departments in Central London.
As CEO of Hackney CVS, Jake has responsibility for the development and support to Hackney’s voluntary and community sector including strategies around commissioning, premises and new funding. For example, Jake founded Hackney Giving which, to date, has raised over £300k for local charities from donations from corporates companies and residents. Internally Jake oversees the organisation’s approach to business planning and sustainability as well as ensuring it is continually improving to deliver the organisation’s vision of A Fairer Hackney.
Current role: Local Support
Wider Networks: Frontline – volunteers, groups and organisations, Business, Local Public Sector
Jenny Field, City Bridge Trust
Jenny has been the deputy chief grants officer of the City Bridge Trust since February 2010. She has worked at the City Bridge Trust since 1996, initially leading the Trust’s monitoring and evaluation team.
She has extensive experience of the third sector and, prior to joining the Trust, was the grants officer at the Walcot Foundation. Before that she had worked in a variety of community development projects and legal advice services. Jenny joined the Board of NCVO in November 2014 having previously been the Vice Chair of Charities Evaluation Services. She is a member of Islington Giving’s Board and has served as a Trustee of a number of organisations in the past
Current role: Independent Funder
Wider Networks: Frontline – volunteers, groups and organisations, Local Support, London Hub, Local Authorities, Business
Christine Goodall, HEAR Network
Christine has been the Coordinator of the HEAR Equality and Human Rights Network since June 2013, and previously a member of HEAR's steering group since shortly after its inception in early 2004. Through her involvement with HEAR, both paid and unpaid, Christine works closely with civil society equalities groups across London, including many grassroots, user led and small informal voluntary and community groups, campaigners and activists . Prior to Christine’s paid employment at HEAR she was London Development Officer and then National Development Officer for Disability Law Service, a national charitable legal practice providing legal advice for disabled people. In these roles she worked on developing training for the voluntary and community sector, particularly user led groups, and building links with disabled people's organisations across England and Wales. Christine also worked with Law for Life and the Advice Services Alliance on public legal education projects and co-authored a major report on access to justice for disabled people in Wales, which was launched at the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff. Christine currently teaches masters level Social Welfare Policy for Staffordshire University, and has also taught Voluntary Sector Management and Disability Studies at undergraduate level. She has a particular interest in forced migration and relations between new arrivals and host populations, this being the subject of her doctoral thesis and a number of research studies carried out for the UNHCR. Christine also has an interest in trust theory as relevant to community relations and has authored a chapter on the subject in the Handbook of Research on Trust.
Current role: Specialist Support
Wider Networks: Other specialist support; frontline – volunteers, groups and organisations; London Hub; Equality and Diversity Forum; academic-social policy, voluntary sector policy and history, management and organisational behaviour.
Andy Gregg, ROTA
Andy is currently CEO of ROTA (Race on the Agenda) and has had a long commitment to anti-racism as well as promoting equality in all other areas. He is also the Chair of the Metropolitan Migration Foundation as well as being a trustee of Refugee Action.
Andy has been a freelance consultant specialising in governance and evaluation, Chief Executive of Charities Evaluation Services and London Advice Services Alliance. He has a substantial track record of working with refugees and migrants. He was also Director of RETAS (Refugee Education and Training Advisory Service) and was a founder member of the Refugee Training Partnership as well as a trustee of Refugee Council.
Andy has had a longstanding commitment to solidarity work with Eritrea and he edited the Eritrea Support Committee newsletter in the 1980s and is currently involved in campaigning for human rights in Eritrea through Eritrea Focus and other grassroots campaigns.
In the more distant past he was a community development worker, a volunteers organiser, a journalist and a philosophy tutor. He is a member of War on Want and Amnesty International.
Current role: Specialist Support
Wider Networks: Frontline – volunteers, groups and organisations, Local Support, Independent Funders
John Griffiths, Rocket Science
John is the co-founder and Managing Director of Rocket Science UK Ltd, a consultancy practice established in 2001. With offices in London, the North East and Edinburgh, Rocket Science has developed a range of grant and programme management services, working for among others the Greater London Authority, the Government Equalities Office and Newcastle City Council. In addition to administering funds in London, including the GLA’s Young Londoners Fund, Rocket Science regularly evaluates programmes’ effectiveness and impact, engaging and consulting London partners and stakeholders, as well as conducting evaluations of national programmes such as the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All and the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Transition Fund.
John is a former elected member of LB Tower Hamlets where he is a non-executive, founder director of the award-winning social enterprise, Bikeworks CIC, based in Bethnal Green and a school governor.
Current role: Specialist Support
Wider Networks: Greater London Authority, Local Public Sector, Independent Funders/Philanthropy, Business
Sharon Long, Partnership For Young London
Sharon Long joined Partnership for Young London in 2014, after working nationally for Children England for 6 years, where she managed a number of national and regional support programmes for the voluntary and community sector. Sharon has worked locally, regionally and nationally within a children and youth policy context. This has included; working across London managing a number of local specialist charities around gender equality, delivering national safeguarding programmes for the voluntary sector with NSPCC, facilitating strategic support for local and regional government on Teenage Pregnancy strategies and implementing a range of nationally funded programmes. Sharon has been involved in both the development of the Way Ahead and supported the establishing of London Plus, she is also a chair of governors of a south London primary school and a non executive director of Youth First.
Current role: Specialist Infrastructure
Wider Networks: Lewisham school governor association, Healthy London Partnership Board, London Safeguarding Board, National Youth Policy Advisory Group
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