Head of the International Programme
Email: nigel.tarling@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk
Nigel has led the work of the International Programme since the beginning of 2009, and has worked for the past twenty five years in the NGO sector at local, regional, national, European and International levels. He joined the Charity Commission from the charity WaterAid, where he was responsible for statutory funding for WaterAid’s work in West Africa and South Asia.
As a Policy Officer and then as Head of European and International work at NCVO, the national umbrella body for voluntary organisations in the UK, Nigel worked on NGO regulation at both UK and European levels. During this time Nigel worked on the 1993 Charities Act and on the draft European Statute for Voluntary Organisations, which was being proposed at the time by the European Commission. He also worked on other Government legislation and policies affecting the voluntary sector, notably the Broadcasting and Community Care Acts as well as a Government White Paper on the Environment.
As President of CEDAG, the European Council for Voluntary Organisations, Nigel led a coalition of European NGOs lobbying for clearer European policies to support European voluntary organizations and foundations. As a result of this work he was invited to work at the European Commission to complete and promote the Commission’s Communication on “Promoting the Role of Voluntary Organisations and Foundations in Europe”.
For the past ten years, Nigel has been working in the International NGO sector. As Director of Programmes at the International Council on Social Welfare, Nigel worked with NGO coalitions at the Millennium Summit and the World Summit on Social Development + 5. At International Family Health and IPPF Nigel worked on sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS issues in developing countries.
Regional Manager for South Asia
Email: phil.cooper@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk
Phil has been with the Charity Commission for eighteen years. In that time he has had experience of most aspects of the Commission’s work: he has worked in operational divisions responsible for registering, advising, supporting and investigating charities; he has worked in policy, including developing publications and guidance; and he has been involved in project management, notably on education projects and IT projects, including the Commission’s e-business project.
Phil joined the International Programme when it was first established in 2004.
Regional Manager for the Gulf, Middle East and North Africa
Email: robin.macgregor@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk
Robin MacGregor joined the Charity Commission’s International Programme in February 2010 from Dubai, where he was Director of the University of Exeter's Middle East Office (MEO). He has over five years’ experience in international Higher Education work, and in 2008-9 held the Chair of the East-West Africa Working Group for Scotland. Before joining the Charity Commission he also worked as a post-conflict education consultant in northern Iraq and Nepal, and since 2000 has travelled to and worked on projects in more than 48 countries, specifically within the Gulf, wider Middle East and Africa.
Robin has lived in Japan, Egypt and the UAE, has published a first translation of St Jerome's Mediaeval Latin Commentaries on Ecclesiastes and holds an M.A. and M.Phil. from St Andrews University, Scotland in Classical and Semitic Languages. He is also a registered Deployable Civilian Expert (DCE) for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and DFID Stabilisation Unit.
Regional Manager for South East Asia
Email: ben.evans@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk
Ben has been with the Charity Commission for over nine years. He joined the International Programme when it was established in late 2004. He has worked on projects in fifteen countries, as well as doing regional work in South East Asia, Europe, the Gulf and the Pacific.
Prior to joining the International Programme, Ben was involved in pilots for the Commission’s Review Visits programme and International Programme. He also advised and supported charities in legal compliance, good governance and best practice, with particular experience in working on complaint and dispute cases. Before joining the Commission, Ben worked as a researcher and fundraiser for a large arts charity.
Regional Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa
Email: sarahjane.digby@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk
Sarah Jane has worked at the Charity Commission for five years and has experience of the voluntary sector through both volunteering overseas and as a trustee of a disability charity. Sarah Jane has an MSc in International Development and Economics from the University of Bath, specialising in development politics in Sub-Saharan Africa, and a BA in International Politics and German from the University of Birmingham.
Programme Support Officer
Email: joanna.saunders@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk
Jo has worked at the Charity Commission for three years and joined the International Programme in September 2008.
Before joining the International Programme Jo worked as a Press Officer in the Corporate Affairs Division at the Commission. Prior to this Jo worked in communications at a charitable think tank in Westminster, and spent a year working as a researcher for a Public Affairs agency in Brussels. Jo has a BA (hons) in European Studies and German from the University of Manchester.