Member Article

Newcastle professor brings new expertise to board of international children’s charity

Newcastle based international children’s charity COCO (Comrades of Children Overseas) has appointed a new member to its nine-strong board. Professor Matt Baillie Smith of Northumbria University will apply over 20 years’ experience of working as an academic and practitioner in international development, to ensure the needs of COCO’s overseas partners continue to be at the forefront of its work.

As Professor of International Development at Northumbria University and Co-Director of the Northumbria Centre for International Development, Professor Baillie Smith’s expertise lies in research on volunteering and development, public engagement in development, development education, activism, NGOs, citizenship and qualitative research methodologies. His extensive experience will benefit COCO as it works with communities in remote regions of the developing world that provide children with access to the education that is essential for a good start in life.

Commenting on his appointment, Professor Baillie Smith, said: ““I am joining the governing board of COCO because the North East has a fantastic history of global solidarity. In joining COCO, I hope I can contribute to continuing that tradition, helping ensure that, as the world changes and communities in the global South continue to face injustice and marginalisation, we can find ways to support them, work alongside them and learn from them.”

COCO was co-founded by Steve Cram and British Army Major Jim Panton in 2000. It invests in small, sustainable, community led initiatives that can make a big difference at a local level. Key projects include the Schools for Life programme which has now enabled 2,360 young people to access sustainable education in a safe environment. Meanwhile, the small loans scheme empowers entrepreneurs to establish sustainable businesses and increase economic activity within their communities and sustainable agriculture training enables people to increase their income to fund children’s education and meet other household necessities. The charity has now supported 50 transformational projects in 16 countries in total, positively impacting the lives of over 200,000 people.

Professor Baillie Smith joins a board whose expertise spans academia, sport and business, chaired by Steve Cram CBE. Lucy Kendall, CEO of COCO, said: “We are thrilled to have Professor Matt Baillie Smith joining our board, adding to the impressive wealth of expertise that we are privileged to be able to draw upon. With many years’ experience in international development and NGOs, I have no doubt that Matt will provide valuable expertise that will enable us be even more responsive to the needs of our partners on the ground in East Africa.”

Matt’s appointment to the board comes at a time when COCO is reviewing and revising its programme of overseas project support, and is developing fundraising plans to help achieve its charitable objectives for the next three years. The charity will tap into the huge breadth of knowledge available from Baillie Smith and other board members during this forward planning process, which will ensure COCO is as effective and sustainable as possible.

Lucy adds: “This is a crucial time for COCO as we set out our plans for the next three years in terms of prioritising our overseas projects, putting plans in place with our partners on the ground to deliver them and driving the associated fundraising here in the UK. Input from the board will be absolutely vital in making all of this happen and ensuring we do so transparently, so that we continue to secure the support of the many individuals and organisations who have helped us to raise over £4 million since COCO was founded.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chris Lines .