Who we are
Our Philosophy
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Many children have no trustworthy adult in their lives. These are the children on the streets, living invisible lives on the edges of their communities, having to be self-sufficient and resilient in order merely to survive. These street children deserve chances like any other child. StreetInvest is committed to supporting the "Street Worker" who enables street children to realise their rights and potential. |
Some children fall through the safety net of existing social support and welfare. It is these children, variously described as "the most excluded", "the most marginalised" and "the hardest to reach" that StreetInvest is committed to support. StreetInvest believes that these children must be given the same opportunities to choose paths in their lives as we would wish for our own children.
StreetInvest believes that the first imperative in realising the rights for any child who falls through the established safety-nets of society is to take the first step towards them rather than expecting them to come to us.
This is far from a hopeless cause. Street children are some of the bravest and strongest children you may ever have the privilege of meeting. Together, we can offer these children real choices.
Our Mission
StreetInvest supports investments in children so that their rights, needs and potential can be fulfilled. We do this through the training of professional and committed workers who serve as trustworthy adults in the lives of street children and by contributing to the investments the workers and the children need to secure a real future.
Our Vision
For every child to have a trustworthy adult in their life.
Who We Are
Father Patrick Shanahan, President & Founding Member
A Catholic Priest & White Father, Patrick has over 40 years of developing country experience. He discovered street children in Accra in the late 1980's and has been working tirelessly to offer these children real choices ever since.
Duncan Ross, Director & Founding Member
Duncan has a Development Economics Degree from the School of Africa Studies, Sussex University. He has had almost 30 years experience in the finance industry beginning in development finance and culminating with JPMorgan. He has been working to support street children for the last 5 years.
John McGuinness, Director & Founding Member
John has been an international financial lawyer for the past 25 years, in the City of London and Hong Kong. John had been supporting street children for two years before becoming a co-founder of StreetInvest.
Felix Holman, Director of Programmes
With over eight years of working in the NGO sector, with a specific focus on street children and programmes, Felix promotes the training to all interested stakeholders. She supports research which informs and guides StreetInvest and others working with these forgotten children. Through a network of other committed agencies working in this field we work to influence national and international policies and advocate for street children's rights globally.
Jacinta Sweeney, Director of Training
Jacinta’s 12 years in international development include living and working with VSO in Cameroon, Nigeria and Ethiopia and with Advantage Africa in Kenya and Uganda. She was one of Street Invest’s first associate trainers and, with extensive training experience across the UK, Canada and Tanzania, she is now StreetInvest’s Director of Training. Jacinta has a Masters degree in development from Manchester’s Institute for Development Policy and Management and an MA and teaching diploma from the University of Glasgow.
Denise McEvoy, Senior Advisor
Denise McEvoy has been instrumental in establishing StreetInvest as a UK charity dedicated to supporting street children around the world through the support and training of street workers. Denise remains involved as a Senior Advisor and continues to support StreetInvest in various ways including through the Advisory Committee, their involvement with the University of Ulster for accreditation and evaluation, through the use of the training materials ‘Take Your Shoes Off' and following the development of Street Worker training from a quality assurance perspective.
Hugo Rukavina, Project Manager
Hugo provided invaluable technical support to StreetInvest on a voluntary basis for over a year. He has now taken on the official role of managing our M&E and communications and supporting programmes. He has experience from youth work in his native Norway and from the software industry in the UK. He completed a masters in Practicing Sustainable Development at Royal Holloway in the autumn of 2011 with a dissertation focusing on the ‘measurement of the wellbeing of street children’.
Alex McBreen, Programmes Assistant
Alex has recently joined StreetInvest, having previously held positions with ActionAid UK, the British Red Cross and ActionAid International. She has a strong interest in children and children's rights and has spent extended periods abroad, working and volunteering with children in America, Africa and Asia. Alex currently supports the StreetInvest Programmes and Training teams.
Charlie Ross, Operations Officer
Charlie works part-time as Street Invest's Operations Officer, ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of the StreetInvest office and to support team members with logistical, finance, pr & communication and fundraising activities. Alongside her role in StreetInvest, Charlie also runs an online, social enterprise, which aims to facilitate socially and environmentally beneficial production within the fashion and interiors industry.
William Johnston, Trustee
Bill Johnston recently retired from a 36-year career with Canada's Foreign Service which took him thrice to Asia (Korea, India, Vietnam) and to the UK, Brazil and the USA. His specialties are international marketing, team building, performance measurement and music. He hopes to parlay his interests in education, youth and economic development into a meaningful contribution to the voluntary sector.
