We couldn’t achieve what we do without our people. Take a look at our staff profiles to see how different roles play a part in our success.
Meet our Team
Board and Executive Management Group
As Managing Director of SDDirect, Sue’s role is to empower the team to deliver excellent and innovative social development consultancy and research with inclusion and social justice at its heart. …
Board and Executive Management Group
As Deputy Technical Director, Barry Smith co-leads SDDirect’s consultancy and research staff. He is also a Principal Consultant in the Governance and Inclusive Societies team and Equal Education…
Board and Executive Management Group
In January 2023, Besinati joined Social Development Direct as Co-Director of the Technical Team, providing strategic and operational leadership across SDDirect’s gender equality and social inclusion…
Board and Executive Management Group
Chris joined SDDirect in April 2016 as Finance Director. His responsibilities include all aspects of the financial management of SDDirect, including financial reporting, budgeting, pricing,…
Board and Executive Management Group
Emma is Associate Director of Programmes at SDDirect. Working as part of the executive management team, Emma provides leadership and oversight on all corporate support services across the business.…
Board and Executive Management Group
Victoria leads the Business Development and Communications Team at SDDirect and is responsible for guiding the sustainable growth of our organisation.
A commercial contracting specialist, Victoria…
Board and Executive Management Group
Rose Caldwell is a member of Social Development Direct board and CEO of Plan International UK. She has over 20 years’ experience in senior roles in the not for profit sector having spent ten years as…
Board and Executive Management Group
John Kerr is a member of the Social Development Direct Board. He is also a member of the board of Development Works Limited and Plan International UK. He is an advisor and board member to a number of…
Board and Executive Management Group
Business Development
Victoria leads the Business Development and Communications Team at SDDirect and is responsible for guiding the sustainable growth of our organisation.
A commercial contracting specialist, Victoria…
Business Development
Jenny manages business development opportunities for SDDirect across a range of clients and portfolios, working closely with technical team members to ensure the submission of high-quality proposals…
Business Development
Susi joined the Programmes team at Social Development Direct in April 2022 as the Regional Lead for the Safeguarding Resource and Support Hub for Eastern Europe (RSH EE). RSH EE provides…
Business Development
Maham joined SDDirect in February 2023 as a Business Development Manager. As part of this role, Maham leads on developing high-quality technical and commercial proposals for various clients and…
Business Development
Serena joined the Business Development team at SDDirect in September 2018. In her capacity as Business Development Manager, she works on new opportunities across the company’s portfolios of work,…
Business Development
Meet Sylvia Nwoko, our dedicated Communications Officer at SDDirect. She recently joined SDDirect in August 2023 and is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the communications strategy,…
Business Development
As Deputy Head of Communications and RSH Partnerships Lead, Nastasya is responsible for developing and implementing the company’s strategic communication plans, building relationships with key…
Business Development
Daniela joined the Business Development team at SDDirect in November 2023 as a Business Development Officer. She is joining us from the International Governance and Risk Institute (GovRisk) where she…
Business Development
Finance and HR
Chris joined SDDirect in April 2016 as Finance Director. His responsibilities include all aspects of the financial management of SDDirect, including financial reporting, budgeting, pricing,…
Finance and HR
Inci joined SDDirect in February 2022 as our Accountant. She works with the Finance Director to run the Finance Department and is responsible for all bookkeeping with the aim of progressing into…
Finance and HR
Naomi has over 10 years of experience within Recruitment, Employability and Training with skills in stakeholder management, project management and team leading.
Naomi is involved in supporting the…
Finance and HR
Nicola is the HR Manager at SDDirect. Since joining she has worked closely with our Programmes and Business Development teams to provide resourcing and compliance support to a wide range of projects…
Finance and HR
Bex Thomlinson is the International Recruitment Specialist for the Safeguarding Resource and Support Hub, providing resourcing support by facilitating recruitment and onboarding for project staff,…
Finance and HR
Seerat joined SDDirect in January 2021. Her career interests are in Human Resources, and she is committed to ensuring that the organisation’s policies are being delivered, and that employee wellbeing…
Finance and HR
Technical
As Deputy Technical Director, Barry Smith co-leads SDDirect’s consultancy and research staff. He is also a Principal Consultant in the Governance and Inclusive Societies team and Equal Education…
Technical
In January 2023, Besinati joined Social Development Direct as Co-Director of the Technical Team, providing strategic and operational leadership across SDDirect’s gender equality and social inclusion…
Technical
Amanda provides technical advice and leadership to SDDirect's work in the field of Gender Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response as part of SDDirect’s GBV Portfolio team. She is the Country Co-…
Technical
Anna joined SDDirect’s technical team in August 2022 and is a Principal Consultant in the Safeguarding Portfoilo.
Anna brings over 15 years of experience in the international development and…
Technical
Alix Clark is a Senior Technical Specialist at SDDirect, specialising in Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) aware monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) approaches. Alix sits within the…
Technical
Andrea is a Principal Consultant in the safeguarding team at SDDirect. With a background in social care and child protection, Andrea brings more than ten years’ experience providing technical…
Technical
Anisha joined SDDirect in October 2021 as a Technical Analyst, with a focus on the Governance and Inclusive Societies portfolio, including work on the Disability Inclusion Helpdesk.
Anisha’s…
Technical
Ann leads SDDirect’s work on safeguarding which includes work on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), child safeguarding and wider issues around bullying and harassment.
Ann has a…
Technical
With a strong background in social development, Arti provides technical and research expertise to SDDirect’s Gender-Based Violence portfolio. She is particularly interested in social and behaviour…
Technical
Chris works as a Principal Consultant in the Green Economies and Infrastructure team. He has extensive experience in international development, across a range of social development-related areas…
Technical
Danielle joined SDDirect’s technical team in 2019, and works as the Head of Portfolio for Equal Education and Principal Consultant in Safeguarding.
Danielle brings over 15 years of experience in…
Technical
Emma is a social development and governance professional with over 20 years’ experience in advisory, research and management/leadership roles spanning a range of issues and sectors, including…
Technical
Erika provides technical advice and leadership to SDDirect’s work on gender-based violence (GBV). She has over twenty years of experience of working on social development. Erika has produced…
Technical
Emma is the Head of the Governance and Inclusive Societies Portfolio, which houses SDDirect’s work on health; disability inclusion; women’s political participation; women, peace, and security; and…
Technical
Faraz is Head of the Green Economies and Infrastructure Portfolio with over 10 years’ experience focusing on the role of planning, community engagement, and technology in creating more inclusive and…
Technical
With a background in humanitarianism and social development, Hanna provides technical and research expertise to SDDirect’s Gender-Based Violence and Safeguarding portfolios. As the GBV AoR Helpdesk …
Technical
Inez joined SDD in May 2022 as the Eastern Europe Hub Manager for the Safeguarding Resource and Support Hub, bringing in technical expertise in safeguarding and extensive project management skills.…
Technical
Jo Feather is a Principal Consultant in the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Portfolio. She has been working in gender and social development for over 20 years specifically on violence against women and…
Technical
Joanne joined SDDirect in January 2022. She provides technical advice to SDDirect’s work on Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies (GBViE) and Women, Peace and Security (WPS). She has over twenty years…
Technical
Kate leads SDDirect’s portfolio of work on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in development and humanitarian contexts. She is a member of the senior leadership team on the global ‘What Works to Prevent…
Technical
Kavita Kalsi is a Senior Technical Specialist at SDDirect. She leads our work across the Digital thematic area and is a researcher in women’s economic empowerment. She has 12 years’ experience in the…
Technical
Loulou joined SDDirect in March 2023 as Safeguarding Technical Expert (Principal Consultant), bringing with her over 15 years of experience in international development and humanitarian work.
First…
Technical
Lucia is a Technical Specialist in Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning (MEL) and Research. In this role, she contributes to the delivery of a range of cross-cutting gender equality and social inclusion…
Technical
Lusungu provides technical advice and leadership to SDDirect's work in the field of Gender Based Violence (GBV) prevention as part of SDDirect’s GBV Portfolio team. She is the Country Co-Lead for SDD…
Technical
Nanette joined Social Development Direct in May 2023 as the Deputy Team Leader for Resource and Support Hub, working closely with the Team Leader and Programme Manager to facilitate the delivery of…
Technical
Nilanjana currently serves as a Technical Specialist for Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning (MEL) and Research and sits within the MEL unit at SDDirect. Through this role, she contributes to the…
Technical
Naomi is a Technical Specialist who works across our Governance and Inclusive Societies and Gender-based Violence portfolios. She primarily focuses on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), women’s…
Technical
Olivia is a Technical Analyst with a focus on SDDirect’s Green Economies and Infrastructure portfolio. She provides research and technical inputs across a wide variety of gender and social inclusion…
Technical
Onyeka joined Social Development Direct in November 2023 as a Technical Analyst with a focus on Governance & Inclusive Societies and Gender-Based Violence portfolios.
She has over 3 years’…
Technical
Rebekah is our Climate Justice Lead and a Senior Technical Specialist with a particular focus on our Governance and Inclusive Societies Portfolio. She provides technical support on disability…
Technical
Tina provides technical advice and leadership to SDDirect's work in the field of Gender Based Violence (GBV) prevention. She helps to ensure that the work of in-house staff and consultants is…
Technical
Veronica Ahlenback is a Technical Specialist in SDDirect’s Gender-based Violence portfolio. She is particularly interested in Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) approaches in GBV focused…
Technical
Maria is part of the Gender-based Violence (GBV) team at SDDirect. She is a social inclusion and gender equality professional with strong feminist values, specialising in violence against women and…
Technical
Programmes
Emma is Associate Director of Programmes at SDDirect. Working as part of the executive management team, Emma provides leadership and oversight on all corporate support services across the business.…
Programmes
Stefania joined SDDirect in January 2022 as Head of Programmes, responsible for day-to-day programme operations, risk management and technical delivery of contracted projects. She also oversees key…
Programmes
Alex joined Social Development Direct in November 2022 as a Project Manager on the Safeguarding Resource and Support Hub Eastern Europe (SRSH EE). SRSH EE provides civil society organisations…
Programmes
Beatriz has over eight years’ experience in international development. Since joining SDDirect, she has provided Project Management support to projects of varying sizes and complexities, including…
Programmes
Callum has extensive project, programme, and fund management experience within the International Development sector. Joining Social Development Direct in June 2023 as Programme Manager, he is…
Programmes
Hiru joined Social Development Direct in January 2020 as part of the Programmes team and has worked across a wide range of thematic areas over many different projects of varying sizes and complexity…
Programmes
Jacob joined the SDD programmes team in 2022 as a programmes officer, supporting the management and delivery of a number of projects across the SDDirect portfolios.
In 2022, Jacob graduated from…
Programmes
Josh joined Social Development Direct as part of the Programmes team in June 2022, to support the management and delivery of the company’s largest prime contract, the Disaster Emergency Committee-…
Programmes
Natalie joined Social Development in October 2022 as a temp office administrator supporting office administration and HR. Since then, Natalie has moved to the programmes team as project admin officer…
Programmes
Pierrot has extensive experience providing project management support to development programmes across multiple contexts and for various funders. Since joining SDDirect has worked as Programme…
Programmes
Sharene is a Programmes Manager at SDDirect and has extensive experience managing international development and humanitarian programmes.
Since joining SDDirect she has provided project management…
Programmes
Sophie joined SDDirect in May 2023, where previously she held the position of the Young Health Programme (YHP) Coordinator at Plan International UK. The YHP is a global community-based education…
Programmes
Tom joined SDD Programmes team in June 2022 and is responsible for managing a portfolio of projects to help maximise SDD’s impact and ensure delivery to high and professional standards. Since joining…
Programmes
Veronica Martinez Tamayo has over 8 years’ experience in international development operational management. Veronica is responsible for designing and implementing project management structures,…
Programmes
Isadora joined SDDirect in June 2022 as a part of SDDirect’s Programmes team to support the coordination and delivery of a varied project portfolio. She brings cross-sectoral experience delivering a…
Programmes
Associates
Alice is an independent consultant with almost two decades experience working to advance women and girl’s rights in Africa, Asia and Europe. She has a particular focus on strengthening the capacity…
Associates
Amy is a gender, social development and governance specialist with extensive experience providing technical, research, training and facilitation support to development policy and programming. She has…
Associates
Amy Oyekunle is the National Safeguarding Lead on the Partnership for Learning for All (PLANE) project. She is a gender and development professional with over 15 years experience in non-governmental…
Associates
Celine is a social scientist, with more than 20 years of professional experience in Social Development, Gender, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, with a special focus on violence against…
Associates
Dr Eleanor Nwadinobi joined SDDirect in 2012 as a Gender Advisor. She is currently Senior Adviser in the SDDirect team that is supporting delivery of the Nigeria Resource and Support Hub (RSH).…
Associates
Jeanne Ward is an internationally recognized expert on gender-based violence (GBV). She provides technical leadership, training, assessment and evaluation support to UN agencies, INGOs, NGOs/CBOs and…
Associates
Oge Chukwudozie is the Global Safeguarding Advisor for Resource and Support Hub (RSH) providing technical guidance and support to RSH teams in MENA, South Asia and Africa regions. Prior to taking on…
Associates
Emma is a SDDirect Senior Associate with significant experience in gender, violence against women and girls, women’s rights, HIV and sexual and reproductive health (SRH). She holds a BSc Econ in…
Associates
Julienne is an SDDirect Senior Associate with 20 years of experience working in research, evaluation and capacity building. She has a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Melbourne and after…
Associates
Lorraine has twenty years’ experience working in the development sector focusing in particular on the promotion of disability inclusive development from a human rights perspective. She has worked…
Associates
Lyndsay is an SDDirect Senior Associate with over 25 years' experience working in international development as a policy-maker, researcher and consultant. She has particular expertise on gender,…
Associates
Mandy is an SDDirect Senior Associate and leading quantitative researcher with 20 years experience of survey statistics in social policy/gender research. She has extensive experience in collecting…
Associates
Manjola brings more than 20 years’ experience in formal and non-formal education in developing, conflict, post-conflict and natural disaster-affected countries, in Africa, Asia and Balkans. She is a…
Associates
Sabine is a SDDirect Senior Associate with over 15 years of experience in gender, diversity and inclusion. Her most recent work focuses on facilitating women’s economic empowerment and inclusive…
Associates
Sally has over 20 years of experience working to promote gender equality and support women and girls’ empowerment, primarily through the generation and use of evidence. She has a particular interest…
Associates
Sara Petersson brings over 16-years of experience working in international development overseeing, coordinating, and managing large development programmes and portfolios with a specific focus on…
Associates
Dr Susan Wilkinson-Maposa has 28 years of experience supporting international development organizations in south, east and west Africa, as well as in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. She delivers…
Associates
Tasneem Salam is a senior socio-economist who has worked for many years in economic development and urban and rural poverty alleviation programmes in both developed and developing countries. She…
Associates
Tope is currently working with SDDirect as a regional specialist on the FCDO-funded Digital Access Programme to help create more inclusive, safe and secure digital access for excluded and underserved…
Associates
Victoria is a social development specialist with extensive experience in providing technical advice, research and evaluation services on gender equality and social inclusion. She has a proven track…
Associates
Wejdan is an experienced humanitarian and development leader with a Master’s degree in psychological counselling and over 15 years’ experience working in the non-profit sector. She has expertise in a…
Associates