Board of Trustees

IACD Chair

Anna Clarke is one of IACD’s Regional Trustees for Europe and Chair of the Board of Trustees since 2019. A professionally qualified community work practitioner, Anna’s career began in Liverpool, as a neighbourhood community worker on urban estates on the outskirts of the city, followed by roles in cooperative enterprise development, and immigration support work with refugees and asylum seekers.

Moving to Northern Ireland in 1996, Anna managed an EU-funded Peace and Reconciliation programme before taking up the role of Community Development Learning Coordinator with a non-profit organisation working with rural communities across Northern Ireland.  She now runs Prospect Community, a social enterprise focusing on community development, learning, and organisational governance. Anna works with communities, organisations, and agencies to design, deliver and measure the impact of programmes and services that contribute to improving community development practice and supporting social change.  Areas of work include learning design, training, and facilitation, community-based action research, community, and stakeholder engagement, strategic programme planning, design, and impact evaluation. 

Particular areas of professional interest include; Community Development Standards, community leadership, and models and practices of community participation and engagement.   Anna also holds a MA in Human Rights and Equal Opportunities and an MSc in Community Planning and Governance.

Michelle Dunscombe is based on Taungurung land in rural Victoria, Australia and is an enthusiastic community development practitioner, facilitator and trainer. She is passionate about strengthening regional and rural communities particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, to discover possibilities, develop community leadership capacity, build community resilience and support community led projects. She draws on her experience working with local and state governments, a community foundation, the private and the not for profit sectors to inform her work with communities.

Michelle is an ABCD Institute faculty member, Vice Chair of ABCD Asia Pacific Inc, a Regional Development Australia Hume committee member and a former Country Correspondent for Australia with a wealth of experience working with communities and community organisations.  Michelle utilises asset based community development methodologies and participatory leadership practices to support community led initiatives.

Michelle has experience working with disaster affected communities across Australia and internationally, happily sharing her lived and professional experience in disaster preparedness and recovery using ABCD principles and practices.

Clare MacGillivray is a community worker, activist and campaigner for human rights who is deeply invested in exploring how community development practitioners globally are using human rights in practice. She is a founding member and Director of Making Rights Real, a grassroots charity in Scotland, established in 2020, that works alongside marginalised groups using the power of human rights to make economic, social and cultural change.Clare’s interests have always been around connecting the local to the global. A passionate community development practitioner, she has over 20 years experience of working with communities campaigning for equality and social justice. Beginning her career in peace-building work in Hyderabad, India, then in editing works on Palestinian culture whilst living in Jordan, Clare returned to her native Scotland and spent 18 years supporting collaborative efforts to address inequalities in housing, working with tenants’ associations around housing issues. 

She co-led the Housing Rights in Practice project, a key action of Scotland’s National Action Plan for Human Rights and the first project of its kind in Scotland using a human rights-based approach in practice. In a bold collaboration by the Scottish Human Rights Commission, Participation and the Practice of Rights in Belfast and Edinburgh Tenants Federation, the four-year project supported residents in Leith, Edinburgh who were experiencing poor housing conditions to use participatory grassroots human rights monitoring to successfully campaign for £2.3million in improvements to their housing.

The insights from the Leith campaigns led Clare on a journey to drive change towards the broader application of rights-based approaches in community work in Scotland, while supporting the work of human rights defenders to challenge power.

In 2019 Clare chaired the World Community Development Conference in her home town of Dundee, bringing over 500 delegates from 37 countries together in an eight-day learning and cultural extravaganza, conference and practice exchange exploring “People, Place and Power: The Soul of Community Development”. She was awarded the Global Ambassador Award for Community Development in 2019 from the International Association for Community Development (IACD).

In 2020, Clare led the All Our Rights in Law national conversation around a new human rights law for Scotland, listening to marginalised groups’ views to enable their voices to shape recommendations in Scotland’s Human Rights Taskforce.

A former member of the Scotland Committee for the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Great Britain, Clare serves as European Trustee on the Board of IACD. As an UNFEARTIE and a Trustee with the Children’s Parliament in Scotland, a leading organisation for children’s rights, Clare is actively involved in the children’s rights movement and remains passionately committed to grassroots community organising around women and children’s rights with Fa’side Women and Girls Group, a small voluntary organisation in her own community in East Lothian, Scotland. 

Clare holds an MA (Jt Honours) in geography and sociology from the University of Aberdeen, and a postgraduate diploma in community education from Northern College, University of Dundee.

Twitter: @Clare_MacG @Rights_Real
LinkedIn: Clare MacGillivray

Colin Ross has over 40 years experience in community development. He was a community development practitioner and fieldwork educator in Glasgow, has been active in establishing and developing community development organisations in Scotland, and has worked in policy and practice development roles in local and national government, influencing guidance, policy and legislation to support community development. He retired in 2021 from his post with the Community Learning and Development Standards Council, the professional body for community workers in Scotland, where work on standards and ethics led to involvement with IACD in the development of the international standards.

Holly Scheib is a Regional Trustee for North America.  She is currently President of Sage Consulting and has more than 20 years of experience in public health, social work, human rights, development, disaster, and advocacy with organizations across the world.  Her expertise is in transformative evaluation and participatory approaches, adapting scientific methodologies to fit the needs of specialized populations.  Her methods are institutionalized within Federal Ministries in the Government of the Somalia and in the Tribal Law of Taos Pueblo, a Native American Nation within the United States.  Holly holds a PhD in International Health and Development and Master’s degrees in Public Health and Social Work.

Suet-lin Shirley Hung is currently Professor & Head and Director of the Social Work Practice and Mental Health Centre, Department of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University. By background, she is a social worker and community worker. She has been practicing community work for about twenty years before she joined the academia. She is teaching community development, gender and social work as well narrative practice at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Shirley was the first Country Correspondent of the IACD. She is very proud to be a long term member of the Association and is keen to present the IACD to community workers and social work teaching institutions in East Asia.

Ciara Shanahan is a professionally qualified community work practitioner with 23 years’ experience at local and national level as both a practitioner and community work educator.  She is currently Coordinator for the All Ireland Endorsement Body for Community Work Education and Training (AIEB) which develops, supports and promotes standards and quality in Community Work education and training at all levels and in ongoing Community Work practice in ways that reinforce the discipline and enhance the outcomes for all involved, especially communities.

Ciara’s explicit interest in and commitment to anti-racism, equality and human rights has seen her work in local and national Community Work organisations with Irish Travellers including Galway Traveller Movement and the National Traveller Women’s Forum.  Previously a staff member of the Department of Applied Social Studies, Maynooth University she coordinated the part-time in-service undergraduate community work programme and practice placements for students.  Areas of current work include the promotion of the Community Work standards; development and support for workforce initiatives for community workers including pathways to professional qualifications and CPD initiatives to support an inclusive and diverse discipline.  The core values of Community Work inform Ciara’s outlook and interests and see her involved both personally and professionally in human rights and equality issues including as a member of the board of Domestic Violence Response and Community Work Ireland’s policy and practice subgroup.

Hunter Goodman is an ABCD practitioner, trainer, and facilitator who embeds the principles and practices of asset-based community development in her commitment to uplift and inspire leadership within rural communities. Dr. Goodman is an Assistant Professor and Community, Workforce, and Economic Development Specialist at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service. An innovative, collaborative leader and researcher, she is committed to building and supporting a shared mission and collaborative, strategic direction within education, the nonprofit sector, and the local community.  

Hunter is an active part of the Asset-Based Community Development practitioners’ network and a proud trustee of the International Association for Community Development (IACD). She is an alumna of the Presidential Leadership Scholars Program, a first-of-its-kind executive education-style partnership between the presidential centers of George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Lyndon B. Johnson, dedicated to developing strong leaders.

Hunter earned her doctoral degree in leadership from the University of Central Arkansas and Master of Education degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. Hunter lives in Little Rock, AR with her husband and two sons.

Cissy Rock is a qualified sociodramatist who is committed to community-led development processes, combining systematic thinking with grassroots doing. Cissy loves working with people, finding ways for all to have a voice and to fully participate in meetings, communities, and organisations. Her approach is collaborative, dedicated and passionate. Cissy addresses symptoms of inclusion, exclusion and patronisation, working within the dynamics of systems in ways that develop and build social cohesion.

She is not afraid to give her opinion, to make a stand for social justice, or roll up her sleeves to help make things happen. With over 20 years experience working alongside communities and with government, integrity is at the heart of her work.

Cissy set up Community Think in 2015, to stand in her belief that together we do make a difference. Through Community Think she has been involved in campaigns, place-based community organising, community engagement processes, supervision of people working in the community sector, workshops and facilitation.

Cissy lives in Petone in Lower Hutt, Aotearoa New Zealand and enjoys drinking coffee, eating cinnamon brioche, traveling and building connections wherever she goes.

Current vacancy in this region.

Rituu B Nanda is one of IACD’s new Trustees for South Asia. Shining light on others and learning from the wisdom of communities guide Rituu’s life. She is working towards appreciation and deep listening. Rituu has spent 15+ years working on community ownership, Monitoring and Evaluation, participatory action research, facilitation, knowledge management, equity, and behaviour change across the globe. She moderates an online community of practice where you will find more than 2100 blogs on community work  http://aidscompetence.ning.com

Currently, she provides support to Global Fund for children’s  India-based partners, on participatory MEL. At the Institute of Social Studies Trust, Rituu moderates gender and evaluation online community of practice. She is a facilitator for ‘Freedom Rising’ a movement-building initiative. Rituu is pursuing her second master’s degree in Evaluation and holds a certification in Public Health. 

Sonia Garcha has more than three decades of experience in community development and entrepreneurship development with a focus on urban and rural women. Developing practices to strengthen the unorganised sector in India through various mentorship and entrepreneurship development programs across five states in India. Working with Vrutti in building capacities and developing best practices for woman fish vendors- 5,000 in Mumbai and 1,500 in Chennai.    

Sonia won the Social Innovation award in 2018 at the National Conference for Social Innovation for her work in “Digital empowerment of women: DigiShakti” which gained relevance during Covid-19. Worked on developing “Smart practices for Smart Vendors” across many states. Her work in women’s empowerment with Forbes Marshall received recognition through the first Asia CSR award and the first Sandvik Asia CSR award.  

Sonia is a member of the CSpathshala committee, an ACM India education initiative and has made significant contributions to the development and implementation of strategy. The CSpathshala curriculum has been successfully implemented in over 600 rural schools in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. As a member of the steering committee, she was involved in the four editions of CTiS (Computational Thinking in Schools), a conference for teachers. She was also part of the organising team for the Tactile Accessible Computational Thinking (TACT) Grand Challenge. Has been associated with organising the Bebras India Computational Thinking Challenge since 2018.

Sonia lives in Pune, India. She is married and has two lovely daughters. In her free time, Sonia bakes cakes, runs and practices yoga. 

Marlon de Luna Era, IACD Regional Trustee for Southeast Asia. Dr. Marlon de Luna Era is an Associate Professor of the Department of Sociology and Behavioral Sciences De La Salle University, Manila. He has an M.S. in Human Settlements Development (Urban Planning and Environmental Management) from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand; and a Ph.D. on Development Studies at De La Salle University-Manila. Marlon has extensive teaching and professional experiences in disaster resilience, solid waste management, community development, gender and local governance. Marlon had worked with the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development as Social Welfare Program Specialist for six years and served as Community Development Manager of a Resettlement Project with more than 300 family victims of Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991.

He was Program Associate of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) in Thailand, as Operations Manager of the Corporate Network for Disaster Response (CNDR) in the Philippines. He is the President of the Local Governance Training and Research Institution-Philippine Network, Board Member of the Philippine Sociological Society, Executive Vice President of the Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines and Chairperson of the Board of the Values Orientation in Classroom Education (VOICE). He is doing community engagement project on solid waste and composting as President of Dolce Vita Homeowners Association in Binan City, Philippines.

Catherine Wanjohi was IACD’s Country Correspondent for Kenya and was appointed to the Board in 2018, as our third Board member and Trustee for Sub-Saharan Africa. Catherine is a co-founder and current CEO of Life Bloom Services International in Kenya. She has over 14 years experience supporting women and girls trapped in prostitution, poverty and violence related livelihoods towards social-economic transformed lives. She is a consultant in Transformative leadership coaching and mentoring, in the field of Corporate Governance and Community Development. Catherine is an ambassador with Safaricom Foundation World of Difference and a Commonwealth Foundation Peer Mentor  for Civil Society Leadership.

Daniel Muia is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Kenyatta University. His academic and research interests are Community Development and Empowerment processes:- community mobilization, development and empowerment, Human/child rights based development, Sustainable development, and governance processes. He is a trained gender trainer and undertakes gender mainstreaming and empowerment advocacy work. He has participated in community development programme/project evaluations both within and outside Kenya for national and international agencies. He has done research and published book chapters and journal articles.  Daniel is the current chairman of the Association of Community Development Practitioners-Kenya, the Kenyan network of community development professionals.

muia.daniel@ku.ac.ke or drdmmuia@gmaol.com

Tony Ssembatya -Kimbowa is a co-optee of the IACD to the UN in New York and a regional trustee for Sub-Saharan Africa. He works for the UN and is a seasoned academic. He holds a PhD in International Relations and Security from Potsdam Germany, and his research interests include Citizenship, Statelessness and Post Conflict Reconstruction. He has previously studied at ASH Berlin and Geneva School of Diplomacy with a focus on International and multilateral Organizations. He founded the Hope for Afrika education Initiative in Germany and Uganda https://hopeforafrika-kirabo.de/

He is a recipient of the CDS Ted Bradshaw Award, alumnus of the Clinton Global Initiative-CGI and recipient of the German (FNF) Friedrich Naumann Stiftung fur Die Freiheit Scholarship (Freedom Foundation). UNGEI-United Nations Girls´ Education Initiative, activist, and promoter.

Dr Abdul Hamidu Abdullahi is senior lecturer with the Department of Local Government and Development Studies, Faculty of Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Kaduna State. Nigeria. Presently, his teaching and research work is on Community Development, Public Policy, Local Governance Research Methodology and Gender studies.

His involvement in community development project include been an Assistant Research Fellow at Center for Democratic Development Research and Training, (CEDDERT) and a producer of the radio program.

His volunteerism include active membership of the following: Funtua Community College of Health Sciences and Technology; Initiative for Orphans and Vulnerable Persons, Zaria; The Electoral College of Nigeria; Community Development Charter (CDC) and the Ward Integrity Companion (WIC) of my Ward; Network of Society against Child Trafficking Abuse and Labour (NACTAL); the West African Research and Innovation Management Association (WARIMA) and a member of International Association of Community Development (IACD) Scotland, Nigeria.

Janine Ward qualified as a  Social  Worker  and  has  worked  for  35 years  in  asset-based  community  development (ABCD),    participatory    capacity    building,    enterprise development  and  income  generation,  HIV  &  AIDS  education and  competence,  project  management  and  fundraising.  Her ‘hands-on’ experience   is    derived    largely    from    working independently for 12 years in rural Swaziland, establishing an NGO and developing sustainable community capacity-building programmes.

She is also a registered Trainer in:

•           Asset-based Citizen-led Development (ABCD)

•           Micro MBA

•           CABSA’s Channels of Hope HIV Facilitation

•           It Takes Courage! Youth Curriculum

•           Greenlight monitoring & evaluation tool

•           SEED Business Development Support BDS+ UNDP programme

Other work experience was  gained  working  with  Oxfam  GB,  Ziphakamise,  SOS  Children’s Villages, Turn the tide 4 children and Jewels of Hope. Within all these posts, her strength has been in developing  guidelines,  building  teams,  developing  training materials,  facilitating   participatory   training  and developing capacity within communities.

Janine now works independently and has relocated to the beautiful Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal. Her vision is to Spark Personal And Community Essence. She believes that everyone has within them the potential to do things for themselves, but because of life circumstances or environmental, political or social pressures and injustices, it can be challenging to realize this potential. Her passion is to come alongside and spark that potential into life, and support individuals or groups until they are strengthened to continue on their own.