Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Advisory Group

Chair - Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard

Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice. Read more about Debbie.

Kahiye is the Director of the Council of Somali Organisations, a Tier 2 organisation. He comes from a legal practice of 20 years as a Human Rights Lawyer.  

He has previously worked at leading national charity Asylum Aid as Head of Legal leading the asylum casework team and also served as the Treasurer of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association and AFRUCA for several years.

Since being appointed as Director in October 2018, Kahiye has increased the Council of Somali Organisation's membership from 112 to 242 Somali led CVOs including 43 Somali mosques in the UK.

He is interested in diaspora issues whether they relate to access to justice, equal opportunity, mentoring of young people and the development of diaspora businesses whether it is in country of residence or in country of origin.

Having worked in Somalia in the security sector reform, he is a keen observer of the dynamics of diaspora integration and transnationality, development and aspirations.

Asoke has been involved with voluntary organisations for a long time. He was Chair of Harrow Race Equality Council until it dissolved. He was Chair of Age Concern Harrow and Trustee of Age Concern England until it became Age UK England.

Asoke has been a trustee of Greater London Forum for Older People (GLF) and is now Chair.

Yvonne Field is a serial social entrepreneur and change agent. She has spent more than four decades working with grassroots organisations, front line staff, senior managers and policy makers in local, national and international government, local, regional, national and international civil society organisations and the corporate sector. 

Yvonne is a strategic community builder who creates coalitions, collaborative relationships and partnerships. She advocates on behalf of and alongside marginalised communities in the pursuit of racial and social justice.

Her strategic interventions and subsequent sphere of influence have been in the UK, across more than 20 European countries, the English-speaking Caribbean region, Asia and South Africa. 

Yvonne has spent more than 10 years in academia (Goldsmiths, University of London). She is also an astute businesswoman who established, grew and led a management consultancy and training company advising the UK government and regional governments on the development of Black and racially-minoritised communities and women’s enterprise.

In 2014, she established the Ubele Initiative (The Future), a national social enterprise which supports Black and racially-minoritised communities to develop sustainable community spaces through intergenerational leadership, community enterprise and social action. 

In 2018, Yvonne was included in the NatWest Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise (WISE) group. 
As a result of her leadership during Covid-19, Yvonne was also included in the national list of Women of the Year, 2021 and named as one of 20 national Charities Times Civil Society Pandemic Pioneer, 2021.

Yvonne was awarded an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours list in June 2023.
 

Christine has 19 years experience in the London equality and human rights voluntary and community sector. She has been the Network Coordinator for the HEAR Equality and Human Rights Network since 2013, and prior to this appointment was National Development Officer for the Disability Law Service from 2004, and one of the original HEAR Steering Group members.

She has an MSc in Voluntary Sector Policy and Administration from the London School of Economics, and gained her PhD from Staffordshire University in 2007.

In addition to her work in the London voluntary sector, she has continued research interests focused on understanding the mechanisms of building trust within and between communities, including how this relates to forced migration and internal displacement.

Dr Zubaida Haque is the former Executive Director of The Equality Trust, and former interim CEO and Deputy Director of The Runnymede Trust – a national race equality think tank in the UK.

A leading social scientist, Zubaida has significant knowledge of intersectional inequalities within health, education, employment, housing, immigration and criminal justice in the UK.

She has written and spoken widely on structural racism and inequality issues across different public sector areas, and was voted by the Lancet in January 2022 as one of the leading women in the sphere of science and public health during COVID-19. 

Zubaida has worked in senior roles within think tanks, charities and government departments; and has participated as a Commissioner on several national reviews. This includes among others, Oldham Independent Review (2001) Women’s Budget Group Commission on Gender Equal Economy (2020) and [Lewis] Hamilton Commission (2021). 

Zubaida is also a voluntary member of Independent SAGE (which engages directly with the public, and shares independent and transparent advice with the public about Covid-19). And she is an expert adviser on the Advisory Group on Structural Racism and Health Equity in London, and the Advisory Group on Disadvantage Gaps in Education for the Education Policy Institute.

Dr Haque is also a Fellow of the RSA and a trustee at the Howard League for Penal Reform.
 

Biography to follow.

Svetlana has 20 years experience of campaigning for equality and inclusion of disabled people at local, national and international level. She is a Director of Campaigns and Justice at Inclusion London - a leading Deaf and Disabled people's organisations which campaigns for equality and inclusion.

Svetlana holds LLM in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science and she worked for many years as a lawyer to advance equality and achieve positive change through law and legal processes. Her professional interests are about using the law and regulatory systems to advance equality and inclusion.

Svetlana is passionate about grassroots campaigning, self-organising and empowering people to fight for their rights.

James Lee was born and raised in London by two visually impaired parents who immigrated to Britain in the 1970s. James considers himself to be a disabled person and uses a wheelchair to assist with his everyday mobility.

James has worked across the public, private and voluntary sectors in roles which take an intersectional approach to fostering equality, diversity and inclusion for all.

He currently serves as the Chair of the Grant Making Advisory Committee for BBC Children in Need (London and South-East), as a consultant with the City Bridge Trust and is a member of Transport for London’s Independent Disability Advisory Group.

Laks is an award-winning Diversity and Inclusion Champion with a career spanning the corporate, charitable and public sectors. Laks is currently serving with the Metropolitan Police working in Strategy and Transformation, having previously worked for Deutsche Bank, PwC, Jones Lang LaSalle, and charities in the sustainability arena. Laks is a Trustee for the wellbeing charity caba, a Trustee and LGBTQ+ Lead for South Asian Heritage Month, and is the Founder of Gaysians UK. Laks is the LGBT+ Positive Role Model 2020 Award Winner at the prestigious ITV National Diversity Awards, and was listed in the Top 30 BAME Leaders of 2020 by University of Oxford, House of Commons, Lloyds Bank and Operation Black Vote.

Laura’s work revolves around breaking down barriers between people from different backgrounds to reduce misconceptions and prejudice. In particular, her interest is in women and in the faith groups. Laura founded Mitzvah Day, now an international interfaith day of social action ten years ago, and co-founded Nisa-Nashim, a Muslim/Jewish women’s network in 2015. Laura also chairs the government-funded Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. This ensures that thousands of events run around the country bringing people together to consider where identity-based hatred, against any group, can lead.

In addition to grass roots activism, Laura believes in the need to engage with policy makers at all levels through her consultancy, Common Good. Laura is a frequently heard contributor to Radio 2 Pause for Thought and writes and broadcasts regularly. She is delighted to join the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion working Group.

Samantha is Chief Executive of the Third Age Trust and has worked for over 23 years in the areas of Health, Wellbeing and Voice with and for older people. She co-founded The London Age Friendly Forum in 2020 to engage the voice of older Londoners with progressing Age Friendly London. Sam was the CEO for Age UK London before joining the Third Age Trust which supports the more than 1,000 U3A charities across the country. She has also been the Co-Chair of the Age England Association, Chair of City of London Healthwatch, Chair of the London Voluntary Sector Forum, and a Trustee of LASA and Westminster Arts. She is a trained mediator.

U3A is a cooperative movement of Third Agers who come together to continue their educational, social and creative interests in a friendly and informal environment. U3A members have reported major benefits to being part of the U3A learning model in terms of confidence, feeling supported in new communities, learning new skills, combatting loneliness, feeling valued and enjoying life. Sam wants to see a wider debate about the benefits of positive ageing built on group learning, skill sharing and volunteering.

Asma has spent much of her career in the cultural and creative sectors at organisations such as Channel 4, Roundhouse and Creative Skillset, and was inspired to create a truly effective programme for young working-class women in East London.

Motivated by her back story of growing up on a council estate in Peckham and living in Bethnal Green for 17 years, Asma chose to fight back against the devastating effects of austerity cuts and increasing gentrification. She wanted to empower other women from similar backgrounds to hers to access the confidence, skills and knowledge to transform their lives.

She is the Founding CEO of You Make It, established in 2011 as a virtually funding-free pilot. You Make It combines creative workshops, mentoring, work placements, business initiatives and holistic care to help guide working class women of colour to happier and more independent lives.

Since 2020, YMI also deliver a hard hitting and high impact-anti racism development programme (You Change It) for professionals who want to better understand the impact of racism, and access the confidence and knowledge to dismantle it.

Peter is the Policy and Networks Officer at Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX). Peter leads FLEX's advocacy at the London level and coordinates the work of the Labour Exploitation Advisory Group (LEAG) and the Taskforce on Victims of Trafficking in Immigration Detention.

Prior to this, he was Senior Research Analyst at Trilateral Research, where he worked to identify trends and combat forced labour in Greater Manchester, and on projects looking at crime victims' experiences with law enforcement in Ireland and human security in conflict zones. Peter also worked as a paralegal, visiting prisons and working on extradition cases. He has a LLB in Law and Human Rights and an LLM in International Humanitarian Law from the University of Essex.

Briony is the Head of Membership and Engagement at LGBT+ Consortium, the specialist infrastructure and membership organisation for the UK LGBT+ voluntary and community sector.

Over a third of Consortium's member organisations are based in London. Briony and her team work closely with those groups to ensure that the voices of all LGBT+ communities are heard by those in power.

Briony has over 15 years experience working in the voluntary sector. Prior to joining Consortium in 2020, she was Head of L&D for a UK-wide domestic abuse charity and before that she worked in community-based domestic abuse, mental health and youth support services.