I recently founded Sophia Transformations, a company which specializes in building partnerships with the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector (VCSE), as well as the public and private sectors, to better transform the lives of the most dispossessed, especially those of women and girls, including victims of domestic violence, and those with little access to mental health and well-being services. Services include providing project management, fundraising and training expertise to charities and providing advice and resources to private companies wanting to more wisely invest their philanthropic funds in charities. Once the website is complete I will link it to this site so that those are interested in the company can learn more about the specific services I offer.
Prior to establishing Sophia Transformations in January 2016, I was the Chief of Staff and Monitoring Officer for the Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire. Part of my role included partnering with the police, statutory partners and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector to end all forms of domestic abuse including honour based violence, female genital mutilation and forced marriage. Additionally, I was responsible for restructuring the organisation, for hiring and managing staff, for compliance and governance and for working with other partners in the criminal justice system including the Crown Prosecution Service, HMP Bedford, the Bedfordshire Criminal Justice Board and the Chief Executive Forum for Bedfordshire.
I am human rights expert with more than 18 years of experience in women’s human rights. As the co-founder and director for YWAM’s Centre for International Justice and Reconciliation, I lobbied the United Nations for 9 years with respect to ending all forms of violence against women and girls, particularly with respect to ending female genital mutilation, trafficking and honour based violence. Additionally, i have more than 15 years’ experience in international development including initiating countrywide partnerships to facilitate the development of Cambodia. I also have extensive experience in training with respect to international development, human rights advocacy and conflict transformation.
I am a trustee for CHUMS (a child mental health and well being service in Bedfordshire) and YouTurn (a Bedfordforshire based Charity which specialises in integrated offender management and ending Child Sexual Exploitation). I also currently volunteer for ACCM UK, an organisation involved in ending HBV, FM and FM as well as assisting victims and potential victims of these crimes.
I have an MA in religions, gender and culture from the University of Manchester, an MPhil in Politics where I developed a feminist ethics of flourishing which I applied to conflict transformation in the Palestine/Israel conflict, also from the University of Manchester. My MPhil thesis, entitled, “The Implications of a politics of natality for the praxis of peacebuilding in the Middle East” involved locating examples of human flourishing in the Israel/Palestine conflict. Transcending human rights approaches to justice, I believe is the ethics and goal of human flourishing, something which I plan to write more about in coming blogs. I also have an MA in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies where I concentrated in development economics .
I have worked in international development and human rights since 1991. My expertise includes international development, human rights, world religions and the importance of religious literacy in international politics and economic development,. I have worked as an advocate for gender justice, particularly at the United Nations, but also at the UK national and local levels (Bedfordshire) to end all forms of violence against women and girls. I also have expertise in conflict resolution, conflict transformation, peacebuilding, reconciliation, ethics and forgiveness.
Additionally, I have lived, worked and traveled in over 60 different countries spanning six out of seven continents (I still haven’t been to Antartica!).