Our people

Helen joined CARE International UK as CEO in August 2023, following a career dedicated to championing social justice, gender equality and human rights. She was CEO of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women from 2017-2023. Under Helen’s leadership, the Foundation saw a tenfold increase in the number of women entrepreneurs it supported each year, successfully achieving its 100,000 Women Campaign in 2022. Prior to this, Helen worked for over a decade at leading international charity for women and girls ActionAid, where she was Director of Fundraising and Communications for ActionAid International and, most recently, Director of Fundraising for ActionAid UK.

Helen has over 25 years’ experience in international NGOs where she has held a number of senior leadership positions. She started her career in commercial and non-profit marketing in her native Australia before moving into international work in 2001 with Greenpeace International. Helen has travelled extensively and worked in a number of countries including South Africa, India, the Netherlands and the US.

Helen has a BSc. in Social Policy from Birkbeck, University of London, and an International Executive MBA from the IE Business School in Madrid.

Senait Fassil leads CARE International UK's finance, compliance, governance, and technology functions. She brings extensive experience in these areas, with a solid track record in the nonprofit sector, and is committed to driving financial transformation and operational efficiency to support CARE's mission. Senait is a qualified accountant with a BSc in Applied Accounting and an MBA from Oxford Brookes University, and she has over two decades of experience in similar roles in both the nonprofit and private sectors.

Having worked for CARE earlier in her career, Senait is excited to return to the organisation, where her passion for social justice was first ignited. She is particularly committed to CARE’s mission of empowering vulnerable communities and advancing women’s rights. Senait is especially passionate about CARE’s work in gender equality and economic empowerment, and she is inspired by the organisation’s efforts to create lasting change that strengthens communities worldwide.

Esiri has a background in the Education and Charity sectors. Prior to joining CARE International UK, she successfully built and led people functions at several organisations including Selwyn College, University of Cambridge and most recently serving as the People and Culture Director at the children’s charity, AllChild.

She is a passionate advocate for equity and systemic change, particularly committed to fostering inclusive cultures that empower people and organisations to thrive. Esiri’s strategic approach combines a deep understanding of Employment Law and HR practices with a people-first ethos, nurturing an environment that enhances the employee experience.

Esiri brings a wealth of experience as a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD with two master’s degrees: an MA in Human Resources Management and an LLM in Employment Law. She is inspired by CARE International UK’s vision and dedicated to driving organisational development to support CARE's mission of fighting global inequality and injustice.

Ben is passionate about people power – the power that we all have, when we join with other like-minded individuals, to make the world a more equitable, just place. Throughout his career spanning fundraising, communications and campaigning he has used his high-energy style to build ambitious, innovative and high performing teams.

Ben has served at several international humanitarian organisations: Save the Children, Toybox and World Vision – where Ben worked as Director of Public Engagement prior to joining Care International UK in 2024. He has also worked at the Labour Party, leading the team that broke records in terms of number of supporters campaigning and donating for a political party in a UK general election.

Ben lives in Milton Keynes with his wife and two young children. When he’s not with them you might see him running around a lake trying to improve his half marathon time, or mulling over his Fantasy Premier League team.

Helen joined CARE International UK in 2017 as MENA team leader and has held several roles, including Head of Humanitarian and Head of Programmes, before becoming Director of Programmes and Policy in 2022. Before joining CARE, Helen worked at the Department for International Development. She was Deputy Head of the Occupied Palestinian Territories office, oversaw governance policy and programming at the British Embassy in Kabul, and held a number of other roles delivering cross-government objectives on anti-corruption, migration and inclusive growth.

Helen holds a Master’s degree in International Studies from the University of Vienna and has over 15 years of experience working in government, NGOs and multilaterals on policy development, programme design and implementation, institutional fundraising, and safeguarding. Her technical expertise focuses on governance, women's rights and humanitarian emergencies.

Lyndall has worked building support for international organisations working on a wide range of issues including the liberation of South Africa, access to treatments for HIV/AIDS, and in the UK on poverty and inequality. She has worked as CEO and as a Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Campaigns for a wide range of organisations, including the African National Congress, ActionAid, Care International, Concern Worldwide, The Terrence Higgins Trust, The Big Issue, BOND, Practical Action, VSO, The International HIV/AIDS Alliance, World Habitat, Save the Children, WWF UK and Elhra.

She now specialises in senior interim assignments and has been a speaker and trainer both internationally and in the UK. She has worked as a volunteer and activist both internationally and in the UK. She was awarded the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Institute of Fundraising, and is a Board member of Greenpeace UK and a Trustee of The Refugee Council.

Khalid is an experienced accounting and assurance professional with over 15 years of experience. He is currently an Internal Audit Director at Centrica, leading global assurance projects over financial and operational areas. Prior to that, he worked for PwC for 11 years in France, England and Scotland. He brings extensive experience of risk management, internal controls and dealing with large and complex organisations.

As SeeAbility’s Executive Director of Innovation and Social Impact, Desiree leads SeeAbility’s fundraising, marcomms, engagement and innovative programmes teams. Desiree is an experienced leader with a specialism in building long-term partnerships including with leading corporates. Over her career, many of these have delivered transformational education, employment, and advocacy opportunities for and alongside people with disabilities in the UK and internationally. Desiree is also involved with Power and Integrity, which supports purpose-led organisations to achieve greater impact towards a more just society by putting integrity at the heart of everything they do.

Laura is director of the Shaping Sustainable Markets Group at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Her career has included senior roles in the UK government and international NGOs leading policy and programmes on international development issues ranging from trade and business to climate change, humanitarian emergencies and gender. Laura has also been a trustee of several development focused NGOs. She is strongly committed to gender equity and inclusion and making the world a better place for women and girls.

Amadu works as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. A refugee-background human rights activist, global/international development consultant, and creative practitioner, Amadu works with civil society and international development organisations in Scotland, UK and Africa to centre marginalised grassroots communities’ ‘lived’ experiences and voices in campaigning, advocacy and activism. He occasionally serves as visiting artist, lecturer, researcher, and public speaker on diversity, decolonial and inclusive practice in service delivery and talent acquisition.

Bavan is a governance, risk and assurance executive and advisor with over 25 years' experience. He is the Founder and CEO of Palum Consulting, a bespoke service provider helping small to medium-sized organisations make sense of their risk and governance requirements in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. Prior to starting his business, Bavan was the Chief Audit and Risk Officer at Tesco.

Bavan was previously a partner and a practice-leader in the consulting business at KPMG. There he specialised in the provision of risk and assurance services including internal audits, and governance, risk management and internal (financial) controls frameworks.

Susy is a development economist by training and has spent almost 25 years working collaboratively with low- and middle-income country governments, multilateral and bilateral aid donors and NGOs. Her work has focussed on consultancy, research and programme implementation with a particular emphasis on the most marginalised and disadvantaged including those living in countries experiencing protracted crises. She spent 9 years in senior management roles at Education Development Trust. Susy now runs her own consultancy business, supporting leaders and organisations in their journey to impact.

Edward Sparrow is a former Senior Consultant and Partner of law firm Ashurst LLP, where he acted as the manager of the continuing long and happy relationship between the firm and CARE International. He is a member of the Bank of England's Enforcement Decision Making Committee, the Financial Conduct Authority's Regulatory Decisions Committee and the Payment Systems Regulator's Enforcement Decisions Committee. He holds posts in a number of charitable organisations.

Anita is a Partnerships and Engagement leader with 20 years’ experience of pioneering new internal businesses and growth strategies to enable organisations to scale their social impact across health, child rights, climate, and equity issues. Anita currently leads Social Impact Partnerships for Meta in Europe, Middle East and Africa where she is responsible for Meta’s regional social impact strategy and the roll out of social good products and programs across Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. Prior to joining Meta, she was responsible for leading UNICEF’s global engagement strategy and has led digital innovation for a wide range of organisations such as IFRC, UNHCR and WFP. Anita has experience launching social good products across 60 countries and driving market expansion, managing global teams with international experience in the US, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, and the UK.