Our Team

Fiona joined Link in 2014 and has overall responsibility for the strategic management and operations. A chartered accountant, she has more than 30 years’ international experience at a senior level in the private, public and third sectors.

Sam has 20 years of experience in education and international development in Africa and Asia. She joined Link in 2011 and as the International Programme Director, leads on strategy development, programme implementation and safeguarding. Sam believes in improving education systems so that everyone can benefit equally from a quality and safe education. She is a board member of Scotland’s International Development Alliance.

Harold joined Link Malawi in December 2019, responsible for overall country program development in Malawi. He has over 12 years’ experience working in education, gender, young women's empowerment and community development, with hands-on technical experience in both project management and monitoring, evaluation and learning sectors.

Nicolò joined Link in 2020 and is the Country Representative for Link in Ethiopia. Nicolò has been working in education planning and programming in emergency and fragile situations for over 10 years in Asia and Africa, focusing on education programming that merge immediate interventions and long-term reconstruction.

Denis Olak is the Senior Programme Manager at Link Education Uganda. He has over 10 years work experience in education, child protection and disability programming blended with excellent monitoring and evaluation skills. He is based in Kampala.

Abaynew joined Link in 2019 and leads the planning, coordination and implementation of our FCDO-funded Supporting Transition of Adolescent Girls through Enhanced Systems (STAGES) project. Prior to that, he worked in the education sector for 13 years at government level as Woreda Deputy Office Head, Supervisor and Teacher. Abaynew holds MoA in Development Anthropology from the University of Gondar and a BA in Teaching English Language from Bahir Dar University.

Angela joined Link in May 2021 and her remit covers projects in Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda. She has over 20 years of experience of working on educational projects from both a technical and monitoring and evaluation perspective and has worked on projects in Central Asia, Asia and East Africa. Angela is particularly passionate that all children should receive the same opportunities through education, no matter where they live and the background they are from.

Clement has a strong passion for community-focused projects and a knack for innovative ways of always getting things done. He has enjoyed an illustrious career of over 18 years in both government and NGO sectors encompassing development managenent, education and grants mobilisation for community projects. Clement is an award winner of the Bill and Melinda Gates sponsored 'Innovations for maternal and child health' competition in Malawi in 2010.

Innocent has over 10 years of international development experience working on development, implementation, and management of education, skills development, livelihoods, and development projects. An alumnus of the UrbanPromise International School of Entrepreneurial Leadership, and holder of a Masters of Arts in Organizational Leadership and a Bachelor of Arts in Education, Innocent's personal mission is to pursue the end of extreme poverty and promote human rights to the last child, woman and man.

Kate joined Link in 2009 and has held various programmes roles in the UK and Malawi. As International Programme Manager she leads programme design and delivery, working closely with our teams in Africa. Kate is passionate about the right to education and Link’s ability to build inclusive, quality learning in challenging situations.

Leticia joined Link in 2014 and handles the finance and administration functions of Link Uganda. She has hands-on experience in finance and administration gained through working with the private and third sectors. Leticia is passionate about continuous improvement of the lives of children through access to quality education in rural and under privileged areas in Uganda through her work.

As Finance and Admin Manager, Nebiyu is key in managing Link’s financial operational in Ethiopia, so that all our education projects align with our policies and procedures, government regulations and donors’ requirements. Nebiyu joined Link in January 2021 after having worked for more than nine years at International Rescue Committee (IRC). He has a BA in Accounting from Addis Ababa University, and has just started his MBA program at Lunar University in Addis.

Sandra joined Link in 2018 and is the Technical Advisor for projects in Ethiopia, working closely with the local team. She has over 20 years of experience of leading and supporting education programmes in different contexts, mainly in Africa. Reaching the children who face the greatest barriers to quality education has been her focus in all contexts, and this continues through her work with Link.

Susan joined the Link team in 2017 and oversees all programme finance in the UK and Africa. She brings to Link a wealth of practical and hands-on financial experience gained across public, private and charity sectors. Susan is passionate about improving the lives of children and young people through her work and has lived and worked for many years in Africa.

Emma

Wokowu is Team Leader of the Resource and Support Hub, a global safeguarding programme working with civil society organisations to strengthen safeguarding practices. Emma brings ten years of experience designing, managing, and implementing social development projects for the UK Government and other international donors and organisations. Emma previously managed the Girls Education Challenge Fund in Sierra Leone through the Ebola and post-Ebola transition period, as well as experience working and living in Nigeria and Malawi. Emma has a Master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh in Africa and International Development. She has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Reading in Sociology. Emma joined the Board in 2022.

Seonaid is a Chartered Accountant, qualifying with PwC and currently leads on the financial, risk and programme aspects of Scottish Government's School building programmes. She has a keen interest in working collaboratively across stakeholders to create linkages and foster optimum solutions, as well as developing innovative finance solutions for the delivery of public sector infrastructure.

Alasdair Beaton is the Chairman of Link's Programme Committee. Having been born and brought up in Uganda, Africa and its people have always had an important place in Alasdair's life. After a full career in aviation, Alasdair's ambition continues to support education for the very youngest, especially for girls, knowing that Link's work also benefits whole families and their older generations, throughout their local communities.

Anita has been a member of the Board since 2019.

Elaine has been a member of the Board since 2013.

Richard Santandreu is the Managing Director of Resolved IT and has worked as an IT professional for over 25 years. He has been on the board of various institutions working collaboratively with organisations to improve and develop solutions.

Philippa is an international development professional. She worked overseas for 17 years as an education specialist. She has worked in humanitarian and development contexts in Rwanda, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, Mongolia and Nepal with a particular focus on inclusion relating to disability and mother tongue education. On return to Scotland she has supported organisations working globally with a focus on organisational effectiveness and safeguarding.

Alastair is an economic & social research consultant working in programme monitoring and evaluation, impact measurement, and value for money assessment. He has interests in the evaluation of education, infrastructure development, enterprise development and corporate social responsibility interventions with a strong focus on sub-Saharan Africa.

Jacqui is an independent educational consultant. She works both in Scotland and internationally to support aspects of self-evaluation for school improvement at school, authority and national level. She has undertaken a variety of projects to support the development of education in Malawi and Rwanda. She spent over ten years as an HMI where she held the post of Lead Inspector for Primary Education. In addition to her consultancy work she is an Associate Tutor with Glasgow University where she develops and delivers courses on Educational Leadership and Management. Her research interests include the education of care experienced children and relationship building in education.

Elizabeth held posts in Scottish schools, local authorities, Education Scotland and Scottish Government, including working as Her Majesty's Inspector of Education and finally as a senior civil servant leading on aspects of the education response to COVID-19. She has supported leadership and school improvement in Malawi. She has extensive experience of developing and implementing quality improvement frameworks at a national level and the provision of professional learning for staff working in nurseries, schools, communities and local authorities and parents.

Simeon is a seasoned former career civil servant, worked in the education sector for over 32 years and served as the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Education of Malawi and the CEO of Malawi Institute of Education. He is a holder of Diploma in Education (UNIMA), Bachelor of Education (UNIMA), Masters of Science in Instructional Systems (Florida State University), Postgraduate Diploma in Curriculum Development (Kenyatta University) and Doctorate in Mathematics Education (University of Georgia).
Simeon is an author of 16 mathematics books. Formerly, a teacher at different primary and secondary schools and served as a deputy headteacher at the secondary school level, and a principal at a Teacher Training College. He additionally, was the Vice Chancellor of University of Blantyre Synod. Currently Simeon is Managing Director of Hau & Hau Consulting firm founded in 2012.

Ms. Frances Atima has had a long career as an Inspector of Schools with the Ministry of Education and Sports. She is currently the Acting Director of Uganda's Directorate of Education Standards and sits in different committees of the Ministry. Being a long serving inspector of schools and teachers by training, education quality improvement is at the center of her work. She is currently leading the roll-out of TELA, which is an electronic system that will be used to monitor Teacher Effectiveness and Learner Achievement in all primary schools in Uganda.