Our staff

Progressio staff at a 2009 march to stop climate chaos

Progressio employs around 30 staff in the UK (around one-third of whom work part-time). Our country offices are staffed by nationals of those countries. Some of them have told us why they like working for Progressio!

Country Representatives

Adan Yousuf Abokor, Somaliland Country Representative

Abeer Al Absi, Yemen Country Representative

Luis Camacho, Ecuador Country Representative

Patricio Cranshaw, Nicaragua Country Representative

Marianela Gibaja, Peru Country Representative
I have worked with Progressio for 22 years and I’ve been privileged throughout this time to know many committed people who have shared their knowledge and experiences with their Peruvian partners – and who, at the same time, have been influenced by their colleagues, returning home enriched by their time here. What I like most about the work is contact with people, getting to know different cultures, ways of life and thinking. This is what makes my work a new experience each day, and after 22 years I am as enthusiastic today about the work as I was when I just started.

Carmen Medina, El Salvador Country Representative

Kevin Ndemera, Zimbabwe Country Representative
I believe that the poverty we see today is more about decisions (or indecision) and actions (or inaction) by individuals in positions of authority, from the family level right up to the national and international levels, than it is about lack of resources. Progressio’s aim is to build people’s capacity to challenge the structures and systems that are responsible for these decisions and actions. And this is what motivates me in my work.

Lloyd Simwaka, Malawi Country Representative
I have been with Progressio for nearly three years now and I like my job because our work involves reaching out directly to the people in communities. I believe that the people themselves, even though poor and marginalised, do hold the key to improve their own status and well-being – and we as development facilitators can only help them realise their dreams. Through our work with local partner organisations, we are set to bring change and contribute to achieving development goals.

Tibor van Staveren, Timor-Leste Country Representative
There are many reasons to like my work: the buzz of working as part of a dedicated team, the contact with so many different people from so many different countries, the shared goals. Working in Timor-Leste and knowing that I can assist in some small way in the development of this new country and its people is what keeps this job so interesting.

Sonia Vasquez, Dominican Republic/Haiti Country Representative

Xiomara Ventura, Central America Regional Manager (based in Honduras)
My job is all about connecting people and their skills with where they are most needed. In 2009, when we were in the throes of the coup d’état in Honduras, I had to react quickly to the changing situation. The general environment was difficult, but our development workers and partners showed great commitment. My job was to bring together all their skills and capabilities and try to make the best use of them. We had the energy and togetherness to overcome the complicated conditions and continue our amazing work.

Executive Director

Christine Allen, Executive Director
It’s a real privilege to be the Director of Progressio. It’s a great team – we have skilled and dedicated people whose commitment is shared by our members and supporters. I am always inspired by people in their local parishes or groups who organise events or activities to support our campaigns and raise awareness and money for Progressio’s work. It’s important for us to be an organisation where people can come together, from all sorts of different backgrounds, sharing the same concerns with openness, respect and a passion to build a better world.

Denise MacMahon, PA to the Executive Director
My role is to support Christine Allen and the Board of Trustees. Working for Progressio brings together all of me – my Catholic background, my education, my English and Spanish, and my desire to support an organisation knowing that through the work we do as an international team, we are helping people in other countries make their lives better and worth living.

Finance and Administration

James Collins, Director of Finance and Administration

Paula Collins, Bookkeeper

Lucy Frew, Central Services Administrator

Barbara Georgiou, Administration Manager

Patricia Pons, Senior Accountant

Emmanuel Sengoga, Accountant

Aline Venegas, Finance Assistant

Programme Funding

Gloria Doñate, Programme Development and Funding Officer (based in the Dominican Republic)

Julia Fahrmann, Programme Development and Funding Officer (based in Peru)

Gillian Houghton, Programme Funding Officer

Caroline Pankhurst, Programme Funding Manager

Yasmin Reyes, Programme Development and Funding Officer (based in Honduras)

Angela St. Jules, Programme Development and Funding Officer (based in Malawi)

International Programmes

Belisario Nieto, Programme Quality, Learning and Evaluation Officer

Gabriela Quevedo, Programme Support Officer

Catherine Scott, Regional Manager – Africa, Middle East and Asia
For me working for Progressio is my way of being Catholic. Progressio’s work in so many ways exemplifies the social teaching of the Church and it’s about being true to what I experience as vocation. I feel priviledged to have been part of an organisation encompassing a committed staff from a variety of different backgrounds, faiths and nationalities, which for so many years has provided a bridge between members and supporters in the UK and partners and communities in our country programmes: informing, building coalitions of solidarity and support, working for changes of all sorts which have furthered the ‘preferential option for the poor’.

Ricardo Tomaz, Recruitment, Selection and Training Coordinator

Osvaldo Vasquez, Regional Manager – Latin America and the Caribbean
I have worked for Progressio for 24 years and I have loved every minute of it! I consider myself very fortunate working for an organisation that puts people at the centre of its development work. Progressio is all about people struggling against poverty and discrimination and we link the best people in the North with the best people in the South. We also do international advocacy rooted in the work that we do together with our partners – which allows us to ‘punch above our weight’. I feel very proud of our work and of the commitment of all my colleagues to do it even better!

Ruth Watkins, Recruitment, Selection and Training Officer

James Whitehead, International Programmes Director
I feel lucky to be able to work with so many experienced and knowledgeable people who are all working to bring about change. I love the way that Progressio seeks to deal with the underlying causes of poverty rather than providing a ‘sticking plaster’. My role is to make sure that all the country programmes and our advocacy work run smoothly and that we continue to improve the way we work. The greatest privilege in my role is to be able to sit down with people in the countries where we work, hear their views and realise that we are trying to achieve something together.

Advocacy

Tim Aldred, Advocacy Manager

Steve Kibble, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator – Africa, Middle East and Asia

Petra Kjell, Environment Policy and Advocacy Coordinator

Lizzette Robleto, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator – Latin America and the Caribbean

Communications

Jo Barrett, Media Officer
The thing I like best about my job is the opportunity to meet and write about people who are effecting their own change. Seeing their passion and drive is inspiring. Last year I was interviewing a Progressio-supported community deep in the Amazon jungle about their work to tackle illegal logging. The community leader, Alfonso, took me to see his seedling nursery where he is saving and replanting every threatened species of tree he can find. This was literally “one man’s fight to save the forest” – a valiant effort in the face of logging companies’ jaw-dropping destruction.

Keith Ewing, Head of Communications
Sitting at a truck stop in Zimbabwe listening to a 29-year-old mother called Esther describe the agony of a decision to sell her body to feed four young children is one of many stories that motivates me. Not only because of the horror of Esther’s situation (which sees truckers offering her $1 for sex), but also because of the hope that she retains for her own future and the support that Progressio’s partners are able to offer. She told me: “If I die, my children will have no future. So I am trying to work as a vendor, selling some fish and eggs.” As a Progressio supporter and staff member I know that, in some small way, I am helping Esther have the power to address her own problems.

Graham Freer, Web Officer

Dan Hale, Campaigns Officer

Pamela Jackson, Supporter Care Officer

Alastair Whitson, Senior Creative Editor