Who we are

Trustees

Chair: Maggie Baxter OBE
Maggie Baxter is the chair of Rosa, the new UK women’s fund, and the ex-director of Womankind Worldwide. She has been Deputy Chief Executive and Grants Director at Comic Relief. She was seconded while at Comic Relief to set up the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. Prior to that she was London adviser to the Baring Foundation, and a grants officer in the Grants Unit of Camden Council. Maggie is also a trustee of the Hilden Charitable Fund and Green Belt Movement International.

Rayah Feldman is the chair of the Hackney Migrant Centre, a drop-in centre for asylum seekers and other new migrants in Hackney.  She was formerly a lecturer in social sciences and is now a freelance researcher, with a special interest in refugee and women's health.

Maria Margaronis is a journalist and writer on refugee issues and London editor of The Nation.

Marjorie Nshemere Ojule  came to the UK from Uganda to seek asylum in 2002. She worked in Uganda as a women’s representative in local government and was imprisoned and tortured for her political activities. She has spoken at many campaigning events, including the 2007 STAR (Student Action for Refugees) conference and the Independent Asylum Commission London roadshow. She was given leave to remain in 2008. She is co-founder of the Women Asylum Seekers Together London self-help group.

Constance Nzeneu sought asylum in the UK from Cameroon. She is the founder of Women Seeking Sanctuary Advocacy Group Wales, a self-help group for women who have sought asylum.

Liz Page (treasurer) is the UK Director of the South Eastern territory for the British Red Cross, responsible for the range of services provided in London and the South East. This includes support to refugees and asylum seekers. Prior to joining the Red Cross, Liz worked in the commercial sector.

Amanda Shah is a policy manager at Refugee Action and was previously head of policy at Bail for Immigration Detainees.

Debora Singer  is Head of Policy and Research at Asylum Aid. Debora set up the campaign for women’s rights in the asylum process, the Charter for the Rights of Women Seeking Asylum.

Rachael Takens-Milne is a grants manager for Trust for London. Previously she has worked at Lloyds TSB Foundation, where she was Interim Manager, England & Wales. Prior to moving into grant-making, Rachael worked at the Citizenship Foundation, Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Charity Commission. Rachael has a Masters in Social Policy from LSE.

Navprit Rai has worked for the Home Office and as a policy adviser to the Liberal Democrats. She currently works at Champollion; a communications and public affairs consultancy which specialises in helping charities and third sector organisations.

Staff

Natasha Walter, Director
Natasha is the author of The New Feminism and Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism. She has been a columnist, feature writer and reviewer for The Guardian, The Independent and The Observer and a regular contributor to arts and political programmes on television and radio.

Kamena Dorling, Assistant Director
Kamena has worked on refugee issues for many years, including at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, and as manager of the Migrant Children’s Project at the Children’s Legal Centre. She has an LLM in International Human Rights Law and currently chairs the Refugee Children’s Consortium.

Marchu Girma, Grassroots Co-ordinator
Marchu co-ordinates all WRW’s work with asylum seekers and refugees. She is also a project co-ordinator for Narrative Eye and the chair of 100 Mothers Movement. Marchu also provides training programmes for ProDiverse.

Sophie Radice, Communications Executive

Sophie is a journalist with experience of working for the broadsheet and tabloid press, and monthly and weekly magazines. Her first novel, The Henry Experiment, was published in 2012.