NEWS: Introducing Migration Exchange’s new advisory group
This advisory group will be supporting MEX’s work, utilising their expertise to hold us accountable to our values and objectives, as set out in our strategic framework 2023-2028.
Migration Exchange appoints new Advisory Group
In line with the aims and objectives of our new strategic framework for 2023-2028, we have selected nine people to form the new Migration Exchange (MEX) advisory group.
To bolster the work we are doing to cultivate insight, connection and action in the migration and refugee sector, we believe that accountability is tantamount to achieving our vision.
We know that our advisory group will help us put these values into action, strengthen our intersectional practices, keep us on track in our work to facilitate change, provide key insight and perspective, and above all be our ‘critical friends’ and hold us accountable.
We are so pleased with the depth and breadth of skills and experience represented by our Advisory Group. Please read on to learn more about each Advisory Group member.
Ambreen Shah
Ambreen has worked in the not-for-profit sector for over 20 years, funding and supporting charities to achieve maximum impact for their beneficiaries. She worked for 12 years at the National Lottery Community Fund (then The Big Lottery Fund) in both their evaluation and policy functions, ending her time there as Deputy Director of England. More recently Ambreen worked at the Design Council as Director of Policy, Research and Communications. Her areas of expertise are on developing funding programmes, policy and strategy development, evaluation and social research and communications. She is passionate about social and racial justice and is currently championing a shadowing programme to support a greater diversity of people in the charity governance space in both her non-executive roles at Smallwood Trust and Charity Bank; She is also an Associate of Getting on Board and the Institute of Voluntary Action Research.
Amira Elwakil
Amira is a collective care trainer with community organising school Act Build Change. She is also a participatory English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher working with migrant communities across London and has worked in contexts including initial accommodation centres, community centres and through partnerships across the migration sector. She has sat on advisory boards of organsiations in the sector as well as held managerial positions, including as part of an executive team of a migrant-focussed participatory education and community organising charity. She has organised on migrant justice issues, particularly with a focus on housing and access to healthcare, where she has worked alongside groups including Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth (HASL) and the Patients not Passports campaign. She holds an MA in Gender Studies and has a particular interest in embedding care and an anti-oppressive lens to work in the sector.
Ayesha Saran
Ayesha works for the Barrow Cadbury Trust, where she leads its Migration programme. Prior to joining the Trust over a decade ago, Ayesha worked for intergovernmental organisations, firstly at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in London. She then spent six years as a Foreign and Commonwealth Office secondee to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Albania. Ayesha’s work there involved political analysis and reporting on issues such as elections, trafficking and human rights. She also spent some time working as a freelance journalist in London. Ayesha is currently vice-Chair of think tank British Future and also on the boards of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and Larger Us. She serves in a non-executive capacity for Minority Rights Group International, an international human rights charity.
Basma El Doukhi
Basma El Doukhi is Palestinian human rights activist, Global Challenges Doctoral Scholar in Migration studies and an associate lecturer at the University of Kent. Basma has a master’s degree in the Development and Emergency Practice at Oxford Brookes University .She has been active in humanitarian and development work with displaced people the past fourteen years covering diverse scope of sectors like community outreach and mobilization, advocacy, durable solutions, protection and many others with UNHCR, UNRWA and many international NGOs in MENA. She is dedicated and passionate about refugee protection, humanitarian action, advocacy, campaigning, and community outreach and development.
Caroline Gentile
Caroline joined the Lloyd’s Bank Foundation in January 2015 to support development of the Foundation’s policy work and national programmes. Built on the experiences of the 600 charities the Foundation funds across England and Wales, she looks for opportunities to champion small and local charities, push for change on issues that affect the sector and support small and local charities to influence change. She has developed national programmes around domestic abuse and sexual violence, criminal justice, the social security system, accommodation and refugees and asylum seekers alongside working with Lloyds Banking Group to explore how their services can best support people facing complex issues.
Eiri Ohtani
Eiri has over twenty years experience in the refugee and migration sector, covering a wide-range of roles at the national, European and international levels. In the UK, she previously set up and ran the charity Asylum Support Appeals Project and the coalition, the Detention Forum. She has worked as a consultant specialising in strategy, theory of change, advocacy and organisational development and regularly provides advice to foundations. Upon completing her consultancy assignment at the Open Society Foundation, Eiri joined Right to Remain in April 2022 to take up a newly created post of Director where she currently works.
Leticia Ishibashi
Leticia is the Head of Migration Programme at Paul Hamlyn Foundation, one of the UK’s largest independent funders. A migrant herself, Letícia brings over seven years’ experience in the migrant rights sector having experience in casework, research, policy, narrative change, and cross-sector coalition building. Before joining PHF, Letícia led the Greater London Authority’s strategy to increase access to immigration and holistic advice for migrants across the capital, the development of the Mayor of London’s Migrant Londoners Hub, and advised on migration policy. Letícia is passionate about disrupting power imbalances to ensure relationships and collaborations are more open, diverse, and inclusive so they can lead to transformational change for migrants.
Muma Sinkala
Muma is an Executive Leader in Africa and the UK. She is the CEO of Krypia, an award-winning African Fintech providing financial services to SMEs in the informal sector. Under her leadership, Krypia won two finance and technology awards in 2022 and has been nominated for five other awards. Muma is the founder of African Art For Spaces (AAFS), the first immersive investment art platform dedicated to increasing the value of African art for the savvy collector. Moreover, Muma sits on two Charity Boards that promote the use of technology and business skills for disadvantaged women. Muma is a CLORE Fellow and Speaker.
Ronnie Tagwireyi
Ronnie was born in Zimbabwe, Ronnie has over 20 years of Lived Experience of the UK Migration sector. Passionate about the greater involvement of people with Lived Experience in the everyday work of Charities and Funders, he sits as a Trustee on the Boards of two charities in Glasgow where he resides and volunteers his time to projects which further that cause. In his spare time, Ronnie is a Gooner, a keen follower of The Arsenal Football Club