Regional Trustees

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.


Clare MacGillivray is the IACD Treasurer and one of our European Trustees. Clare heads up Making Rights Real, a grassroots organisation that supports communities to use the power of human rights to make social and economic change in Scotland. 
Passionate about human rights, and integrating soul work in community development, she brought these elements together as Chair of the eight day World Community Development Conference 2019, in Dundee Scotland, with the theme People, Place and Power: The Soul of Community Development. 
An experienced NGO chief executive, Clare also serves as a Trustee with the Children’s Parliament, a member of the Scotland Committee of the GB Equality and Human Rights Commission, and is active in her local community as an anti-poverty and women’s and children’s rights activist. 
Twitter: @Clare_MacG Email: Clare.macgillivray@iacdglobal.org


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.


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.

Professional Community Development and community activism has had a long tradition in many Western European countries where we have many members. Since 1989 we have been able to raise our profile and membership in Eastern Europe. We have held many conferences in the European Region and our Head Office since 1998 has been based in Scotland and prior to that was for twenty years in Belgium. In 2004 together with European partners, we issued the Budapest Declaration. This set out our action priorities for supporting community development across Europe.

IACD’s lead regional partner in Europe is the European Community Development Network (EuCDN). EuCDN is an active network of community development organisations across the region, and it has a strong international profile. We also have links with many national networks in Europe ranging from the Scottish Community Development Network, to Community Work Ireland and the Hungarian Association for Community Development.