Anna-mai Andrews
Anna-mai has been working for Child Rights, Protection and Justice for over ten years, eight of which were based in the field including Brazil, Zambia and Nepal. Her academic background includes a MSc in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies.
In 2005, she helped to establish the international charity Homeless Child and went on to lead the charity for five years as Director, establishing partnerships with local organisations across Brazil; mainly working in urban slums to tackle issues regarding street children, urban poverty and violence. A fluent speaker of Portuguese, Anna-mai spent a further six years living in Brazil developing local partnerships. This field experience enables her to understand and develop successful strategic partnerships, having firsthand experience of the difficulties and practicalities in the field. Recent independent consultancy includes supporting research for a worldwide UNILEVER children’s education programme.
Vanessa Buvens
Vanessa joined Chance for Childhood in 2013, following 3 years work experience ranging from volunteering on a small community-based education project in Uganda to interning with the European Delegation to the United Nations in New York, monitoring African issues and the Peacebuilding Commission. Previously she worked with Joule Africa, a company implementing sustainable energy projects in West Africa, and with charity Street Child in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Vanessa’s academic background is in political science and international relations. She is also a Fellow of the Amani Institute in Sao Paulo where she studied social innovation management.
As our Development and Innovation Manager, Vanessa leads the design and development of Chance for Childhood’s programmes together with our local partners, also working with donors and collaborators to bring successful interventions for children and young people to scale.
Beatrice Cami
Beatrice joined Chance for Childhood in January 2017 with over 15 years’ experience in fundraising and communication in the overseas aid and disability sector. Over the years, she has worked on various projects and issues, from campaigning against landmines and cluster munitions to securing a UK Aid Match funding and running emergency appeals during humanitarian disasters such as the 2015 Nepal earthquake and the Syria crisis.
Beatrice is passionate about putting donors at the centre of fundraising and communication – she enjoys nothing more than bringing the stories of overseas beneficiaries to UK donors in a compelling way. Beatrice is always interested in hearing from Chance for Childhood supporters so don’t hesitate to reach out to her with comments or ideas!
Franklin Murangira
Franklin joined Chance for Childhood in September 2018 and has over 14 years’ experience in the International Development Sector. He has worked with several international development organizations in Rwanda, including World Vision, Africa Humanitarian Action, Care International, SOS Children’s Villages and also with the Ministry Gender and Family Promotion where he was an Advisor on Women Empowerment and Family Promotion. During his last role with SOS Children’s Villages Rwanda, Franklin was the Director of Programmes; his role was to coordinate all National programmes, guide implementation of the organisation’s mission, lead key management staff and ensure activities follow organization standards, policies, and principles.
He leads the Programme portfolio for Kenya, based in our regional hub in Kigali, Rwanda.
Katie Fowler
Katie joined Chance for Childhood at the start of 2012 with over 8 years’ experience in the International Development sector. Following her work in Belize city, providing strategic planning expertise to a health and human services programme, Katie moved to the private sector, where she focused on health and education programme management in international development, successfully managing multi-million pound project budgets and complex partnership arrangements for many different bi-lateral and multi-lateral development agencies.
Katie has an academic background in poverty reduction and development management and a considerable amount of overseas experience having spent her early years living in Zambia and, more recently, undertaking assignments in Eastern and Southern Africa and South Asia.
Andrew Lowton
After 15 years in local government administration, Andrew moved to Uganda on a two-year volunteer placement with VSO. He then worked as Administration and Finance Manager on a CARE International project and stayed in Uganda for another year and a half.
On returning to the UK he worked as Office Manager for Global Witness and the Child Soldiers Coalition, before taking time out to get a Diploma in Accounting and live in New Zealand for two years.
Andrew joined Chance for Childhood in January 2016 as Finance Officer, subsequently moving to Finance Manager, where he is responsible for day-to-day financial matters, along with HR and IT. Andrew is also one of our two Child Protection Officers.
Debby Metcalf
Debby began as a volunteer with Street Child Africa in 2007, inspired by her many family connections with Africa. She now works as Programmes Accountant at Chance for Childhood three days a week.
A Chartered Accountant by training, she helps the Programmes team manage their projects and, within the Finance team, is responsible for annual budgeting process and preparation of the annual accounts.
Alessandra Podestà
Alessandra joined CfC in August 2017 after 5 years work experience with international and national NGOs. She started her career volunteering with a youth development organisation in the Middle East then interning with the Italian government in Sri Lanka to evaluate post-tsunami relief programmes. More recently Alessandra spent two years based between Zimbabwe and Zambia working with local organisations to deliver education and local development projects. Prior to joining CfC Alessandra has been working with the Mentor Foundation UK, where she developed a strong interest in early prevention and evidence based programmes. Over the past couple of years Alessandra managed a nationwide research project aimed at reduction of risky behaviours and increase of academic attainment for primary school children.
Alessandra holds a Master’s degree in economics and international relations at University of Pavia and an MSc in Political Economy of Development at SOAS.
Connie Wu
Connie joined Chance for Childhood in 2014 with an MSc degree in International Development from the University of Edinburgh. Prior to this, her work experience ranged from leading a participatory action research with street children in Morocco and fundraising for World Vision Canada’s child sponsorship programme to teaching English in France and engaging with community leaders and NGOs in Belize.
Connie is particularly passionate about helping vulnerable children, especially their access to education and protection. She is currently one of our two Child Protection Officers.
Since 2016 Connie has been based in Kigali, Rwanda, where she successfully set up our first regional office in 2017. As Acting Country Director, she enjoys being hands-on, networking with southern partners and experts to strengthen our Rwandan and regional programme and fundraising portfolio.