our team
Leo Williams: Co-Founder and Director
Leo graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2005 with an MA in Arabic and Philosophy. He has since worked extensively on issues of sustainable development, focusing on peace and justice in the Middle East (working with Givat Haviva and The Abraham Fund Initiatives), the fight against poverty and inequality, participation, and environmental sustainability. He was the Co-Founder and Director of Beyond 2015, a global civil society campaign of 1500 organisations across more than 100 countries, focusing on ensuring that the voices of those most affected by poverty and inequality were meaningfully included in the processes to develop the SDGs. He is also the Co-Founder of Transform Together, a Multi Stakeholder Partnership to drive progress on SDG12, Sustainable Consumption and Production. He was Director of the European Anti-Poverty Network for 5 years. Leo is a Rotary Peace Fellow, an Ambassador for the Institute for Economics and Peace.
Sarah Van Doosselaere: Co-Founder and Director
Sarah graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2007 with a first class MA in Arabic and Politics and from the University of Kent in 2013 with a first class MA in Migration Studies. Since 2008, she has worked extensively on issues of migration and protection of migrants’ fundamental rights. She has supported migrants in the field to access their fundamental rights in Europe and Africa (working with the Edinburgh Refugee Centre, Scottish Refugee Council, OFADEC, and the Belgian Red Cross). She has carried out research and public policy evaluation (working for Pour la Solidarité and the Brussels Intercultural Action Centre). At the Belgian and British Red Cross, she designed, delivered and evaluated training courses on the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, migration, stereotypes and prejudice, undocumented migrants and intercultural communication. As the Belgian Red Cross Migration Platform Coordinator, she advised on the development and management of humanitarian services for migrants in transit in Belgium and she supported the leadership in developing its strategy and humanitarian diplomacy on migration. She also co-founded and coordinated Safe Space, Solidarity Housing for Migrants, a network of people who temporarily hosted undocumented migrants.