Our Programmes Advisory Committee was set up to support the work of our Trustees with a specific focus on our programmes. The committee is made up of programmes delivery and strategy experts, working on a voluntary basis to advise on and strengthen our programmes strategy, identify opportunities within our regions and ensure continuous improvement in our work.
Helen Barrett
Helen is a disability and social inclusion advisor with 18 years of experience working to improve the lives of people who experience disability in resource-limited and humanitarian contexts. With a clinical background in Speech and Language Therapy, Helen works through direct interventions, research, programming, policy development, and advocacy, with and for people who experience disabilities, to ensure their voices are heard and their rights upheld. She works with families, service providers, NGOs, donors, and Government agencies across the globe to advance the rights of people who experience social exclusion on the grounds of disability. As a speech and language therapist, Helen is particularly passionate about communication rights for people who find using and understanding spoken language challenging. She specialises in issues of inclusive Early Childhood Development, education, and child protection.
Brenda Killen
Brenda previously sat on Chance for Childhood’s Board of Trustees. She is currently Director, Governance at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, based in Geneva. Brenda has more than 25 years of experience supporting the governance of international organisations, partnerships and alliances to help them achieve sustainable development. As Deputy Director of the OECD’s Development Co‐operation Directorate, she was one of the architects of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. She is a member of the UN Secretary General’s Independent Accountability Panel for Every Woman, Every Child and a Director of the Women in Global Health Movement.
Frances Sheahan
Frances is a human rights lawyer with over 15 years of international experience working on justice for children issues for organisations such as UNICEF, the UN Office for Drugs and Crime, Save the Children, Penal Reform International, the International Commission of Jurists and War Child. She has worked to promote the rights of children in contact with the law in conflict and post-conflict settings including Kosovo, Ethiopia, Egypt, India, South Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia. Frances qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales and has an LLM in International Human Rights Law from Essex University.
Philip Were
Philip is a Disability Inclusion expert with 13 years of experience delivering programs in development and humanitarian contexts. He currently works at Leonard Cheshire International as the Technical Lead for Disability Inclusion in the Girls Education South Sudan Project. Prior to joining Leonard Cheshire, he served as the Regional Disability Inclusion Technical Advisor for Chance for Childhood in Rwanda where he supported various programs across East and Central Africa. Philip holds a B.Ed. in Inclusive Education, MSc. in Human Resource Management, M.A. in International Cooperation & Humanitarian Aid, and is currently pursuing M.A in Monitoring and Evaluation at Mount Kenya University.
