Who We Are

UK Board of Trustees

Lis Bates

Lis is an experienced policy adviser and researcher specialising in violence against women. For the past three years she has worked for national domestic violence charity SafeLives (formerly CAADA) as Head of Research and Evaluation, leading a team to improve and evidence better outcomes for victims of domestic abuse and their children. During 2015-16 she is full-time at the University of Bristol, pursuing her PhD in honour-based violence, and working as a consultant with gender and development charity The Great Initiative.

Kirsten Thompson

Kirsten is a medical doctor in the UK with a further degree in medical research. She has an interest in global health with experience of health-care issues in Uganda and Malawi.

Beatriz Martinez

Beatriz is an education consultant who has worked in education projects in Ethiopia, Lebanon, Egypt, Southern Sudan and Kenya. She was the director of a livelihood programme in an NGO in Cairo where most of the trainees were young refugee girls and women. Beatriz has also worked as an Arabic and Spanish lecturer at London Metropolitan University, City University, Southwark and South Thames colleges.

Hannah hyde

Hannah is currently Philanthropy Manager at War Child UK, the international child protection agency supporting children affected by conflict. She has worked in fundraising for over six years in a variety of roles including at the NSPCC, King's College London and the British Lung Foundation.

Catherine Sullivan

Catherine is a chartered accountant with 9 years post qualified experience, entirely in the charity sector. She spent 18 months working as Head of Finance for Farm Africa, who work in sub-Saharan Africa (principally in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania) and from 2001 to 2003 was a VSO volunteer in rural Uganda, working in a girls' school.

Executive Team

Emily Wilson-Director

Calum Smith- Head of Operations

Emily is a Co-founder and Director of Irise International. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield and a Teaching and Research Associate at Kampala International University with several years experience of women’s health and development. Follow her @emswsmith

Calum has degrees in International Health and Medicine from the University of Bristol and has experience working in Nepal, Uganda and Kenya looking at issues related to global health inequalities.

Amelia Savell-Boss- UK projects and fundraising manager

Amelia has a Masters in International Law, Ethics and Politics from the University of Birmingham. She was the National Coordinator of the Friends of Irise student network between 2015-16 and volunteered for Irise several times before joining our growing team as UK Projects and Fundraising Manager. She has experience mentoring and teaching girls in her own community of Sandwell and in East Africa and of community based fundraising in her previous role as Project Support Adminstrator at local charity SAFS.

Izela Barlow- Uganda country manager

Izela recently joined our team as Country Manager.

boniface lakony- Adminstrator and Operations officer

alex natuhwera- Project Manager

Boniface recently joined our team as Adminstrator and Operations Officer.

Alex originally trained as a lawyer and most recently worked as a Research Associate at the Institute for Research and development in Africa and as a Project Coordinator for Let Them Help Themselves Out of Poverty Skills Development Initiative.

Uganda Board

Jamila Nabafu

Jamila studied medicine at Makere University and graduated as the most outstanding student in her year. Her experiences seeking medical advice as a young woman and of working in a male dominated profession have compelled her to work for a society where men and women enjoy equal opportunity.

Rose Nakame

Rose is a qualified nurse who has conducted research on how dysmenorrhoea affects the academic life of female students. Her own experiences, coming from a poor background, have inspired her to work to reduce the challenges girls’ face along the road to success. Read her blog about her first period here.

Regina Ndagire

Regina is studying to be a nurse and was recently part of a research project investigating the association between family practices and childhood malnutrition in North Uganda. She has been volunteering with a local Women’s Initiative in her village since she was a teenager and her experiences have challenged her to do more to reach out to disadvantaged communities and adolescents.

Board of Advisors

Professor Steven Julious

Steven is a Professor of Medical Statistics at ScHARR, the School of Health and Related Research at The University of Sheffield. He works with us and advises us on our research in addition to the other work that we do.

Dr Lata Narayanaswamy

Lata is a Lecturer in International Development at The University of Leeds. Since 2001 she has worked as a research practitioner, consultant and lecturer in gender and development. She has published her work in international journals including Development and Change, Narrative Inquiry and Geography Compass and is currently writing a book entitled Gender, Power and Knowledge-for-Development, to be published by Routledge. She is is keen to build awareness of why feminism is still so important in addressing inequality.

Joanne Nakakawa

Joanne grew-up and studied in Kampala, Uganda. She is married to Paul and now lives in Bristol, UK. She works with Easton Jubilee Trust as the Somalia Education Project Coordinator; running a homework club and a home tutoring service. You can read about her expereinces of menstruation, education and poverty here.

Reverend Julian Wilson

Jules supports Irise with strategy and management input drawing on his ten years experience in the corporate sector and his prior experiences serving as a trustee for numerous small UK charities.

Monica Norley

Founder & MD of the UK’s Leading Fairtrade Bath & Body Care Company. National Winner NatWest Venus Awards – Social Entrepreneur of the Year (2013), Winner NatWest Venus Awards – Entrepreneur of the Year (Brighton/Sussex 2013), Winner East Sussex Women in Business Awards – Green Business of the Year (2011), Winner 1066 Business Awards – Best Start Up (2007).
We are lucky to have her on board as a business adviser.

Josie Reynolds

Josie is a medical doctor with an interest in global health. She is is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield and has first hand expereince of research and women's healthcare in Madagascar and Uganda.

Easy Pad Board

Mike Erwachu

esther erwachu

Directors

Mike and Esther have prior experience of establishing local social enterprise and bring both knowledge of the ugandan system and strong local contacts to the team.

Lillian Amony

Stella Arao

Board Member

Lillian is an expert tailor and founding member of the business who helps ensure our products are excellent quality.

Women's Representative

Stella represents the women who work for Easy Pad and ensure the board maintains its focus on supporting disadvantaged women and girls.

Susan Alobo

Board Member

Susan is "the face" of Easy Pad. She draws on her own personal experiences of the barriers women and girls face and her day to day contact with our target market to inform Easy Pad's work.

Emily Wilson and Calum Smith also sit on the Board as Business Directors and represent Irise International's interests and agenda.