Meet the Team
Children for Health was launched at London’s National Theatre on 7th March, 2013. We became a registered charity four months later – on 7th July, 2013.
The team consists of Clare Hanbury, Founder and CEO of Children for Health, working with a group of consultants, volunteers, students and associates. Thank you in particular to Amy, George, David & Liz. Thank you too to our very active Trustees: Tobias, Madeleine, Anise & Shelley.
In the early days we would not be what we are without wise counsel and support from Ian, Claire, Helen, Ken, David, Ellie, Jay, Mark, Mel, Dominic, Kirsten, Bibiche, Lourenco, Steve, Nate, Madeleine, Anise, Stephen, Paula, Shelley, Satchee, Jenny, George and Mike A – who have all given their time and made a significant contribution to our work since we launched.
In 2015 our inaugural, “Hawes and Morely Prize for Outstanding Partnership” was awarded to Bibiche Sangwa and Lourenco Govate, both colleagues in the Mozambique-based PCAAN programme. In 2016, this prize was awarded to Paula Valentine, Save the Children.
Core Team
Clare Hanbury, Director
- Experience: 38 Years
- Email: clare@childrenforhealth.org
Clare has worked in international education and development since 1983. She is first and foremost a practitioner. Clare started her career as a classroom teacher and worked in schools in Kenya and Hong Kong. For seven years, Clare was the programme officer for Child to Child. During that time she was involved in work with numerous UN organisations and international non-government organisations like Save the Children promoting children’s participation in health. She also worked with several Ministries of Health and Education in countries in Africa training and developing teaching materials and health education curricula. Clare was the Director of the child-focused charity, Learning for Life UK, promoting education for girls in India, Nepal and Pakistan.
Between 1999 to 2013, Clare worked as an independent consultant based in Cambridge. She is an expert in developing simple, effective information on child health and in promoting the participation of children in health. Clare has been employed by Child to Child, UNICEF, UNESCO, Save the Children, the UBS Optimus Foundation, The Government of Denmark (DANIDA), Save the Children UK, Learning for Life UK, Save the Children USA; and the School Health and Nutrition Network’s FRESH initiative funded by the World Bank. Clare has written or contributed to numerous publications. Have a look in our toolbox here.
Clare’s favourite thing is to be in the field with teachers, health workers and children or working on our website communicating what our amazing colleagues are up to.
David Gifford, Illustrator
- Experience: 38 Years
David has worked for over 38 years as an illustrator in educational publishing with a focus on health messages for developing countries, such as ‘Children for Health’, UNICEF and ‘Child-to-Child’.
He also works as a graphic facilitator and rich picture artist for organisations and companies such as the BBC, HM Gov, Imperial College, London Stock Exchange, NHS, Oxfam, and The Royal Mail.
He is based in London, UK and is married to the writer Elisabeth Gifford.
Amy Collins, Website and Social Media
- Experience: 25 Years
Amy joined the Children for Health team in 2013 she helps build and maintain the website and social media networks.
She has been playing on and working with computers since she was five-years-old and built her first website in 1996. She is a community organiser and volunteer in Cambridge, UK.
Trustees
Shelley Shoaib le Breton, Trustee and Acting Chair
Shelley has worked in the field of education for over 20 years, 12 of which were spent working with UK-based NGOs supporting primary education programmes in South Asia.
For the last 14 years she has been working as a literacy and dyslexia tutor providing personalised support and coaching for students with learning differences. She is a also a qualified Humanistic Integrative Counsellor.
Anise Waljee, Trustee
Dr. Anise Waljee’s global education work includes working with governments to reform the education systems and transform their in-service teacher training institutions (post-Soviet Tajikistan), teacher training programmes in early childhood education and primary education (Tanzania and Zanzibar) inclusive educational policy and practice (Ghana), evaluation of early childhood education and development of educational materials on issues as diverse as social cohesion and resilience, hygiene and nutrition, sexual health, inclusive education for various organisations including the Child to Child Trust, UNICEF, UNESCO, AbleChild Africa amongst others.
Her focus is on the marginalised (people with disabilities, the rural poor, ethnic and religious minorities, refugees) to ensure that their rights and the services due to them are respected. She works with local communities, local cultures and re-valuing local knowledge on issues such as bio-diversity and environmental change. Building local capacities is an important part of her work.
She is a Fellow of the Cambridge Central Asian Forum at the University of Cambridge. Her work encompasses curriculum and materials development, educational management, community mobilisation, capacity building, facilitating decentralisation, organisational change and school autonomy.
Anise speaks fluent English, Urdu, Tajik and Kiswahili.
Joshua George, Trustee
Josh has a background in public, private and third sector. He has spent the last four years in particular leading some of the largest UK government communications campaigns and capital projects contributing towards the NetZero agenda.
He has been involved in a number of social ventures, as both director and trustee, with a keen focus on entrepreneurship, value creation and social innovation.
He has an academic background in Defence, Development and Diplomacy and is currently undergoing an MBA with Imperial College London following a long stint at Cambridge Judge Business School Accelerate.
Emma Hutchinson, Trustee
Emma’s career in early childhood music spans nearly 30 years. With an MA in early childhood music and BA hons in theatre and dance, her research and work confirms that multisensory approaches combined with pedagogical understanding in early childhood impacts positively on young children’s earliest development.
Emma founded Music House for Children in 1994. Her training courses, teaching programmes and resources provide educators with the requisite skills to deliver music with babies, young children and those with additional needs and language delay.
Emma plays a range of musical instruments and composes, writes and performs musical storytales, with a special interest in festivals and celebratory spaces.
Emma hopes to bring collaborative ideas to Children for Health, and to be a positive advocate for an extraordinary, passionate and committed organisation.
Rashid Bajwa, Trustee
Dr Rashid Bajwa is the CEO of NRSP which is Pakistan’s largest rural development organization. NRSP was established in 1991 as a “not for profit company registered under Sec 42 of company’s ordinance with the SECP”.
In recent years, Dr Bajwa has successfully established an Agriculture Value Chain company that integrates small and poor farmers into a vertical value chain in sugar cane and rice.
Dr Bajwa has successfully set up the NRSP Micro Finance Bank which has investors including IFC, KFW and ACUMEN FUND. Today, the NRSP Bank is the third largest MF Bank in the country with 145 branches. It is the only MF Bank to have been given an “Islamic Micro Banking License”.
Dr Bajwa, till recently, was the Chairman of Pakistan Mercantile exchange (PMEX). He has remained on the State Bank of Pakistan’s committee on rural finance. He has been the Chairman Pakistan Micro Finance Network (PMN) the sole association of the MF industry. He has been on the Boards of Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim and Fauji foods.
He is an ex-member of the Pakistan Administrative Service (DMG) from where he resigned in 2003. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Health (distinction) from the Nuffield Institute of Health, Leeds, UK and a graduate of King Edward Medical College.
Field Associates
Bibiche Mwalutshie Sangwa, Outstanding Field Partner
Bibiche Sangwa is a language teacher, trainer and development consultant. She has taught English & French for more than 15 years in DRCongo and Mozambique. From 2011 to 2015 she worked as an adviser to the Danish Embassy in Mozambique working specifically on the Multi-Sectorial Plan for Reducing Chronic Malnutrition. For much of this time, Bibiche was broadly involved in planning, implementing, monitoring and institutional capacity building. Bibiche has also played a key role in coordinating and supporting the PCCAN programme – part of the Education sector’s strategy.
Bibiche has known Clare Hanbury, the CEO of Children for Health since November 2011 and has worked with Children for Health to study, test, analyse and evaluate the capacity and influence of children capacity as nutrition activists. Bibiche has worked as an interpreter and lead trainer and programme designer. Bibiche has helped to navigate the production of a suite of pedagogical resources for PCAAN. These form the backbone of the programme as it scales to other districts in Mozambique. Bibiche and one of the teachers involved in the programme, Lourenco Govate were the winners of the inaugural Children for Health Outstanding Partners prize 2015.
Elisabeth Gifford, Writer
Elisabeth taught as a reading specialist in the UK for twenty years then gained a Masters degree in creative writing. She has written the biography of a couple who rescue abandoned babies in China, The House of Hope, and two historical novels.
A novelisation of children’s champion, Janusz Korczak, who cared for the children in his orphanage in the Warsaw ghetto will be published soon. She is married and has three children. Visit her website for more.
‘Liz’ has played a big part in developing most of the Children for Health storybook titles.
Sarah Newton, Teenologist
Sarah Newton has a deep understanding of young people. She has shared her wisdom with millions who have tuned into her TV and radio shows, followed her writing and listened to her thought-provoking talks. A thought-leader in her field, her insight has been sought by such companies as MTV, Paramount, ITV, Boots and Proctor & Gamble. She’s also brought her fresh perspective to The Guardian, The Independent and The Daily Mail by writing opinion pieces that often go viral.
After 26 years of collaborating with youth she is able to understand, interpret and predict their behaviour, often forecasting trends before they hit the mainstream. Sarah helps young people solve issues by using tactics derived from this collaboration. With a no-nonsense and down-to-earth demeanour, her holistic and innovative approaches have been used in schools, organisations, and homes to bridge the generation gap.
Sarah has known Clare Hanbury, our CEO and Founder since 2006 and has been sharing insights that have helped to develop Clare’s work and the Children for Health approach. Most recently, Sarah has been sharing a framework on Adolescent Behaviour Change and Development that we have adapted to help us design effective interventions with our programme partners.
Volunteering
We do not employ interns, but we are very happy to hear from people who have a little free time to do something specific for us. This can be over the short or long term.