About Water for Kids
Board of Trustees
Water for Kids has six trustees and two co-opted member, see below. The
Board of Trustees meets 3 - 4 times a year and holds telephone conferences
between meetings. Its role is to make decisions on how the charity should
operate, allocate funds and it charts the progress of projects to ensure
that they are on course for completion within budget. The way we operate
is set down in the Water for Kids' constitution,
which was revised in June 2008.
Natasha Franklin - Chair and founder trustee
Natasha was one of the founder members of the Charity. Natasha is one
of two Trustees leading on the Zambia water projects. She first visited
Africa in 1980 with the International Voluntary Service as a short-term
volunteer. The awareness of public health issues developed at this time
was one of the inspirations for her to become an Environmental Health
Officer. She now works as a Principal EHO for Bury Metropolitan Borough
Council.
Jason Cox - Treasurer, Trustee
Jason's working background is within the commercial technology sector
rather than environmental/public health but also he has some financial
training which is very useful in his current role with the Charity, being
Treasurer. When he was younger he lived in Zambia for five years and South
Africa for two years and so is very aware of the hardships that the people
face everyday when living in remote areas.
Contact: treasurer@waterforkids.org
Sara Emanuel - Secretary
Since Sara became involved in Water for Kids in 2005, she has jointly
led the water projects in Zambia. She has found the experience has been
about back-to-basics environmental health, our holistic skills are useful
for fulfilling basic needs in developing countries, especially when
working with partners who speak the same professional language. Sara
works as an environmental health and housing consultant.
Peter Minhinnett - Trustee
Peter first experienced Africa, when he worked in Zambia for 3 years
including working on a WHO Smallpox Eradication programme and the protection
of water supplies. He now works as an Environmental Health Practitioner
(EHP) and Consultant and is very involved in links with Uganda. His
experiences of the needs of a developing country have led to his efforts
in strengthening links between Health Professionals from the UK with
their peers in the developing world. He facilitates annual Commonwealth
Scholarships awarded to African colleagues to experience working in
the UK. In the last 4 years he has led four study tours, supported by
WFK, to Uganda involving over 80 people; many of them EHPs. These tours
have involved working with Ugandan colleagues and communities on health
related projects such as protecting water sources using WFK funds.
Greg Warwick - Trustee
Greg is working at Mendip District Council after working previously
at Herefordshire and Bedford Borough Council where he met the founding
Trustees of Water for Kids. Having travelled extensively he decided
to use his Environmental Health skills to assist the charity in its
work overseas. As a Trustee he has been the contact for projects in
Peru is now a joint contact for projects in Kenya.
Barry Whitehead - Trustee
Barry visited Tanzania in 2001 with Water for Kids and then took up
the challenge of helping to organize a twinning with the Zambian Institute
of Environmental Health. He sees working with Water for Kids as an excellent
opportunity to practically apply the basic principles of environmental
health and to help develop longstanding professional relationships and
development with others who are less fortunate and more appreciative
of the effort. Barry says that it's a total contrast from the health
and safety work he used to do in Bolton. He says “I never thought I
would experience some of the things my involvement has led to, but I
have and you can too. Join us and help to make a difference.”
Angela Parsonson - Co-opted Trustee
Having worked as an Environmental Health Officer for many years, Angela
was inspired by her trip to Uganda in 2006 with Water for Kids. Now
working as a lecturer in environmental health at Middlesex University
in North London, Angela is involved in establishing and developing international
links with environmental health and education. Middlesex University
has a huge international perspective, being the largest provider of
education to overseas students in the UK as well has having multiple
overseas campuses and over 170 partners based worldwide. The university
actively looks for mechanisms to partner and assist others, and to work
alongside organizations through research, training, education and development.
Other Board Members
Roy Emerson - Vice President
Roy Emerson was the first ever President of the International federation
of Environmental Health (IFEH). In his illustrious career he has held
all the major posts within the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
(CIEH).
