Our trustees

Progressio trustees Ijeoma Ajibade (left) and Susana Edjang

Progressio is governed by a board of trustees who provide strategic direction and guidance through regular board meetings, involvement in sub-committees, and individual support for particular initiatives in their areas of expertise. Trustees are initially elected to the board for three years but many serve for longer.

Martin McEnery (Chair)

One of the most powerful experiences of my life came when I helped a group of five women in Islington run a housing association. We used to meet once a week just to commiserate with one another. But gradually they organised themselves into a tenant-managed co-operative which is today a multi-million-pound organisation.

Working this way, empowering people, helps people to be more effective, to realise their potential, to get more control over their lives. It gives them a huge sense of achievement.

This way of working is one of the things that drew me to Progressio. You can't give power to people. They have to develop it themselves. Working with people to help them be more effective is what Progressio does and I think it's a great model.

My experiences throughout my life and career have shown me that resources are unevenly spread across the world; that poverty needs to be dealt with proactively; that having power gives us responsibilities; and that many of the things that we can now do through the wonders of technology may prove to be unsustainable.

We find ourselves at a crucial stage in the life of our planet. Progressio may not be as large as some development agencies, but in facing these challenges, I believe we have a great opportunity to help bring about change.

Martin is a barrister who has also worked for 20 years in management consultancy in the UK, Europe, Africa and India, including work with DFID in a number of countries. He has three grown-up children and lives in east London.  

Andy Waites

I became familiar with Progressio through working in CAFOD, whose work is closely linked. I’m very pleased to have become a Trustee for Progressio and hope that my long standing experience in similar areas of work will be an asset to their valuable organisation.

Progressio’s new Waterproof campaign is a very timely issue. Climate change is a big priority in Progressio’s work and water resource management is at the centre of it. Clean water is critical to life and a good example of how we need to prioritise climate change to preserve the world’s natural resources. One of the biggest challenges in Europe and the western world is taking water for granted. In times of economic slowdown people tend to look inwards to helping their own communities. But a supply of clean water is the most basic and fundamental necessity for any society to survive.

Andy currently works with the Cardinal Hume Centre tackling poverty and disadvantage in the UK and has over 16 years of international development experience through VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) and CAFOD.

Carolyn Williams

It was the self-reliance of Mexican peasant farmers I met as a 19-year-old student of Latin American politics that first sparked my commitment to work with local communities in the South. Receiving no government or international support, the farmers themselves were making their cooperatives work.

Progressio’s development workers live in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, working full-time with partners in a two-way dialogue, rather than slipping into the assumption that they alone should have the knowledge, expertise or solution to any given problem.

A trustee since 2008, I try to make sure we constantly interrogate ourselves on our aims and approaches. For example, some inequalities are considered less relevant by most international development agencies, such as those based on race, ethnicity, culture or sexuality, but they prevent full citizenship, participation and well-being.

Carolyn is an independent consultant specialising in gender, sexuality, development and Latin America. Holding a PhD from the LSE’s Gender Institute, she combines academic research, programme consultancy and translation work. She lives in south London.

Chris Smith

As a student, I was greatly influenced by the radical Catholic ideas of the Dominicans. For them religion and politics are intimately linked and both should be practically applied to change the world for the better. On qualifying, I went to work as a medical officer in northern Malawi with the Medical Missionaries of Mary.

I became a member of Progressio because I share their view that development should be about empowering others as equals, rather than giving aid. And I think Progressio offers an important Catholic identity within the church because of its global political interpretation of Catholic social teaching.

A trustee since 2008, I bring to Progressio a non-expert view from the practical parish level, where I’ve been involved in Justice and Peace, Traidcraft and Fairtrade activities. I hope to support Progressio as it seeks to find new ways to engage with supporters and campaigners.

Chris is a GP. He has two grown-up children and lives in west London.

Dan Cook

My interest in international development stems from growing up as an expat child in Tanzania and Mauritius where we moved for my father’s work. I was initially attracted to working with Progressio because of their central aim of empowering people at grass roots level. Their two pronged approach to combating poverty–  by confronting the power structures through advocacy , whilst also directly helping local communities – is what makes Progressio truly unique.

As a Trustee I think it’s important to have the time to get really involved in the work of the charity. My experience in the financial world can hopefully be of benefit to Progressio, but more important is my passion for international development.

Dan has a degree in Engineering Science and worked in financial services in the City for 26 years. He is currently studying for an MSc in International Development and has set up a small charity called Food for Thought (East Africa) which supports children through education in Tanzania and Kenya.

Dennis Sewell

I was very struck by the high quality of Progressio’s analysis and advocacy when I first came across it in the late 1980s. I was a BBC news reporter at the time, researching a story on Timor-Leste, and it was clear that Progressio (then CIIR) was held in very high esteem by the media specialists who’d worked with it.

I was in touch with Progressio once again in the late ’90s while researching my book Catholics (2001) as I was interested in attempts to apply Catholic social teaching in practice. I was was born in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon in 1956 during violent civil conflict, so I’m also very interested in interfaith dialogue between Chrisian and Islamic groups, and Progressio’s civil society capacity-building and post-conflict development work.

Now I’m a trustee I draw on my 20 years’ experience in political journalism to help Progressio develop its communications work and respond appropriately to political developments. 

Dennis is a writer and broadcaster: a contributing editor of the Spectator and Politics UK presenter on the BBC World Service. He has two children and lives in London.

Ijeoma Ajibade

I have always been interested in community empowerment and allowing the voice of ordinary people to be heard in public governance and decision-making. I therefore welcomed the opportunity to join the board of Progressio. This provides an opportunity for me to continue working in this area, but at an international level.

As well as over 20 years service in local authority and London government, I am involved in the UK HIV sector on a voluntary basis. My involvement in the HIV sector is due to a mixture of many things including my vocation, love for my African community here in the UK, as well as a somewhat restless personality.

I first became involved in HIV when I did a research project for the London Assembly in 2004. It was then that I really became aware of the impact of HIV on the African community here in the UK and the issue of stigma. Since then as well as working within the sector I have developed projects of my own looking at HIV and faith.

My interest in community empowerment has been further deepened by my studies in theology and in Christian ethics and by my training for the priesthood in the Church of England. I have been deeply influenced by Latin American liberation theology and God’s preferential option for the poor. Although I am no expert, liberation theology captures my imagination, especially the thought of people finding their own voices and speaking the truth to power. I really want to participate in this speech and joining the board of Progressio is an opportunity to listen to this speech and to respond together with others.

Ijeoma Ajibade currently works for the Greater London Authority (GLA) and from July 2010 will be combining her work for the GLA and UK HIV sector with ordained ministry in the Church of England. 

Jagat Chatrath

Poverty was widespread in India and was everywhere around me when I was growing up there. As a youngster, I was mindful of my relatively privileged background and wanted to see a more equal society. A sense of inequity has lived within me to this day. I wish to see real progress made to end poverty during my lifetime and those trapped in poverty need positive answers which go beyond protests and words. There are many more roads to travel if we are to 'make poverty history'.

Worldwide, more than 1 billion people are suffering from chronic hunger. I believe much more large scale progress is possible and a lot more can be done to develop very poor countries. I support the ethos of Progressio of lifting people out of poverty and feel close to and am in favour of its partnership approach to development. I feel that Progressio is well positioned to play an effective role and make the most of the opportunities.

I feel privileged to be a Trustee for Progressio. I hope to add value as a board member in ensuring that organisationally Progressio continues to fulfil its aspirations, ensures its role in the future is meaningful and builds enduring alliances.  I realise it is an onerous responsibility but I am ready for it and will give it my total commitment – that’s a promise.

Jagat worked for the Audit Commission for 25 years and for the Home Office for 11 years. He lives in Hertfordshire where he is a Magistrate

John Barker

I worked for Progressio in Namibia from 1992 to 1996, where I helped to set up community media organisations in the newly independent Namibia. I’ve always been impressed by Progressio’s methodology. They’re quite solidly linked to local organisations: their development workers’ roles are tailored to local organisations and link into advocacy already there.

A trustee since 2009, I bring to Progressio broad experience of managing an NGO, and a human rights perspective: specifically how the media should, though often doesn’t, enable freedom of information and expression so people can make decisions about their lives. I worked to get this idea enshrined in law in the African Union, in the Declaration on Principles of Freedom of Expression, which set internationally progressive standards on Freedom of Expression.

John is Senior Operations Director at the freedom of expression organisation, Article 19. He has a young child and lives in east London.

Phil King

I believe that real development comes through trade, not aid. Progressio is the only development agency I’m involved with because it works to build the infrastructure we take for granted in the UK – civil society, healthcare – to provide a regulatory trading framework. For example, if people know they’ll be paid on time, it encourages investment and export of manufactured goods.

I’ve been a Trustee with Progressio since 1999, and bring my experience of Fairtrade and social business to support Progressio to take an expansionist view. I play a backroom role, aiming to give others the confidence to develop work knowing that the organisation is financially stable.

Phrases such as ‘capacity-building’ can mean many things to people so I've been impressed by the reality of what Progressio and its partner organisations are getting done when I’ve carried out audits in Progressio’s Yemen, Peru, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Honduras offices.

Phil provides strategic financial advice to social businesses having previously been Head of Strategic Finance at Ecotricity, and Finance Director of Cafedirect. Now an ‘empty-nester’, Phil has three children and lives in Kingston-upon-Thames.

Susana Edjang

Most of my work experience is on supporting and promoting health partnerships between UK organisations, at all levels, and their counterparts in low and middle income countries. The ultimate aim of these partnerships is to deliver health care to those that need it. For this reason, it is always a privilege to be there when partnerships develop and achieve their goals, because then you realise and witness their reciprocal benefits for UK and overseas organisations, individuals and the communities that they serve.

I have always been interested in social transformation through partnerships and  other means. That is why the work of the development workers that are at the core of Progressio’s work is so fascinating to me. Their impact is very diverse, from working with municipalities in the Dominican Republic or supporting electoral reform in Somaliland, to supporting the social integration of minority groups in various countries in Latin America. On top of this, relevant learning from these experiences can be shared across UK communities and that is such a wonderful gift.

I am very honoured to be a Trustee at Progressio and to witness the work of all its staff, in particular in these difficult times.

Susana is the Programme Manager of the Zambia UK Health Workforce Alliance. She is also on the council of the Royal African Society and an advisor to MyBnk, an innovative social enterprise that promotes financial literacy and entrepreneurship among young people.

Tim Livesey

It was by happy chance that I found myself running the UK’s official aid programme in Nigeria in the ’90s in my first overseas posting with the Foreign Office. My job for nearly four years was to manage in country the ODA’s (now DFID) increasingly complex and multi-sector development programme. This brought me into contact with many deeply impressive people working at grassroots in the poorest and most remote communities, including many priests and religious groups. These were people who, with very small amounts of financial support, could help transform lives. The opportunity to work with them and their communities was deeply inspiring and showed me what’s possible if people commit themselves to making change happen.

I first became interested in Progressio (then CIIR) in my early 20s, mainly because of my interest in liberation theology. Progressio’s mission to support and enable communities to be agents of their own transformation is what inspires me. I try to bring to the board an understanding of how things work in politics, government and the church and how faith can enlarge people’s vision and commitment – drawing on my experience of working in Downing Street, for Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor and for the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

Tim is Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams’ adviser for public affairs. He has five children and lives in Berkshire.