STARS Foundation

2011 STARS Impact Awards Africa Panelists

The STARS Foundation is very grateful to the individuals below for giving so generously of their time and expertise in a voluntary capacity.

Laura Hughston: After graduating in clinical psychology in Italy where she also worked for UNFAO whilst still studying, Laura developed an interest in international development which led her to London to support various NGOs in paid and voluntary capacity, between 1997 and 2007. In 2007 Laura moved with her husband to New Zealand where she worked with World Vision, as programme manager. With a very broad portfolio geographically and thematically, her programmes ranged from juvenile justice in Mongolia and child-headed households in Malawi, to anti-trafficking in Myanmar and working orphans in Uganda. Passionate about development and human rights, Laura recently completed a course in child-rights programming and continues to engage with a number of charities working for social justice.

Neil Alldred: Neil worked for 20+ years in Africa, managing a variety of European and African NGOs at progressively senior levels in both national and panAfrican programmes, before settling in Ireland in 1999. Since then he has been able to engage in lobbying, awareness-raising and ‘activism’ in both his day-job (currently running the International Development Programme for the University of Ulster) and in his ‘spare’ time. He is a Trustee of CARE International UK and until recently chaired the pioneering coalition, Stop Climate Chaos NI. He is passionate about social change and the need to mainstream initiatives for social justice – though he worries that the mainstream may well be the problem!

Paulette Cohen: Paulette worked for over 10 years with international NGO’s VSO and Save the Children, where she was Head of Communications and Communications Director respectively. During this time she also chaired the International Save the Children Alliance Global Communications Group. In 2005 she became the Deputy Chief Executive of the Windsor Leadership Trust working with senior leaders across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Inspired by the impact that the combined power of the sectors could have on achieving significant social change, Paulette joined Barclays in September 2010 to lead the development and delivery of Barclays’ global community partnerships working with a wide range of INGOs. She sits on the boards of Tree Aid and BTCV and is an Ambassador for Think Global – the Development Education Association.

Shaun Collins: Shaun Collins is currently Assistant Director for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services for Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust in London. He is also a consultant working on a number of issues, such as mental health, child protection and security/peace building in post-conflict rehabilitation programmes in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Before then, Shaun has worked for a number of large development agencies (UNICEF, DFID and Commonwealth Police Association) as well as National and International NGOs in West Africa developing and delivering programmes covering: the rehabilitation of children affected by armed conflict; trauma recovery; social work and nursing staff training in basic mental health awareness and interventions; and most recently, working with the Sierra Leone Prisons Service. Shaun also works as a consultant providing training on working with refugee children, identification of potential child trafficking cases and related child protection and child mental health issues in the UK.

Sally Eastcott: Sally is a Director at AfriKids; an innovative child rights NGO working with communities in northern Ghana. Sally has led AfriKids’ fundraising since 2005 and in 2010 won the Institute of Fundraising Fundraiser of the Year Award for AfriKids’ innovative and successful approach. She has studied Development Management at Postgraduate level and is closely involved with the development of AfriKids Ghana’s programmes in northern Ghana. As part of her work for AfriKids, Sally also advises and consults for NGOs and grant-giving foundations, both in the UK and on the ground in Africa.