The Alliance’s Director

The Alliance Director, appointed in April 2023, sits on the Integrated Care Partnership Board (ICP) and the Integrated Care Board (ICB), alongside senior leaders from health and social care.

Watch recording and read papers/presentations from ICP and ICB meetings.

 

SWL VCSE representatives

We nominate voluntary sector representatives to sit on the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) delivery workstreams:

Representatives:

 

Roberto Mobile, Need 2 Succeed

Roberto sits on the ICP Workforce Partnership group; he is currently heading Need 2 Succeed, a leading Further Education (FE) training provider. He has over 35 years of experience, a substantial background as a Youth Work Practitioner, in the FE, Higher Education (HE), and Adult Education sectors. As the Founder and Head of Need 2 Succeed, he has successfully managed multiple Greater London Authority (GLA), Adult Education Budget (AEB), and Apprenticeship sub-contracts. Rob has great knowledge of the voluntary sector in South West London and has worked across Merton and Sutton CVS in the past, and continues this collaboration currently, with several VCSEs in Croydon and Merton through a range of partnership projects including Adult Education and ESOL provision, employability and Family Learning Courses. He also runs the Level 3 Certificates in Social Prescribing and has trained many Social Prescribers across South London, many of which work within the VCSE sector.

 

Jason Lamont, Kingston Centre for Independent Living

Jason has been CEO of the charity KCIL since 2020. They support hundreds of disabled people across Kingston. He sits on the ICP Workforce Partnership group.

Jason has over twenty years of experience of multi-site operations across the South of England. He has a track record of business development and leadership, with an interest in growing and developing businesses. His track record includes having previously worked with a business for 14 years that transformed itself from a provider of care staff to a provider of regulated care services. 

 

Ann Hagell, Habitats & Heritage

Ann is Chair of Habitats & Heritage and an independent research consultant and Associate at the Association for Young People’s Health and sits on the CYP and Maternity Partnership group.  She is a local Twickenham resident who feels passionately about the importance of community and the local environment. Ann is a chartered psychologist with a specific interest in young people and in securing them a positive future.

She has published widely on social policy and adolescent wellbeing. As well as her interest in young people she brings extensive experience of governance in the charity sector.

 

Shane Brennan, StayWell

Shane Brennan has been the StayWell Chief Executive since 2005, a Kingston charity working with older people and their carers, and sits on the Older People Delivery Oversight Group. Before joining the organisation, he gained over 20 years’ experience of working in both the private and non-profit sectors.  He lives in Kingston and is passionately committed to developing quality and innovative services which address inequalities and make a difference. He plays a prominent role within the charity and non-profit sector both regionally and nationally.  He is an advisor to the NCVO and represents Staywell, and the charitable sector, on several strategic groups and partnership boards.

 

John Azah, Kingston Race and Equalities Council

John Azah is currently Chief Executive Officer of Kingston Race and Equalities Council (KREC) and sits on the Prevention and Health Equity partnership group. He has worked for KREC since it was set up in 1990 and has been responsible for helping it develop into one of the more pro-active and dynamic RECs in the country. John Azah is a founding member and currently Vice Chair of the Independent Advisory Group of the Metropolitan Police Service that advises the Police Service on Critical and Strategic Issues. He is also a member of the National Police Chiefs Council Hate Crime Independent Advisory Group. John Azah is a Governor at South Thames College; founded the Milaap Multi-Cultural Centre, Refugee Action Kingston, Kingston Chinese Association and Multicultural Richmond.

John Azah was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2007 Honours list for services to Policing, Community and Race Relations in London and a contributing author of a book: Policing and the Legacy of Stephen Lawrence. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate and a Fellowship at Kingston University in July 2019 for Community Engagement, Inclusion and Cohesion in the Royal Borough of Kingston and Race Equality, Human Rights and Community Relations in the UK.

 

Kate White, Kingston Voluntary Action (Superhighways)

Kate White has been managing Superhighways, a project at Kingston Voluntary Action, for nearly 25 years, growing it from a three borough project to a pan London initiative supporting hundreds of small charities and community gain the essential digital and data skills, backed by the right tech, to achieve their goals. She sits on the ICS SWL Digital Board. Kate is passionate about helping smaller organisations utilise digital technology to be more efficient and effective and builds confidence and skills within teams to progress their digital and data journeys. She is also committed to bridging the digital divide, working in partnership with communities to address digital exclusion barriers. Collaboration is key to her approach, building relationships with London’s voluntary and community sector infrastructure organisations, funders and other stakeholders to co-design services, extend reach and scale social impact.

Kate is regularly asked to speak at tech and data for good events and collaborates with others in the tech and data for good space. She is a co-organiser of the tech for good community - TechSoup Connect London, a founding member of the UK Tech for Good Network and contributes to the Data Collective and Catalyst network. She is also a Trustee of a local advice, counselling and wellbeing charity in London.

 

Alberta Atkinson (Home-Start Sutton)

Alberta is the CEO of Home-Start Sutton, a charity committed to promoting the welfare of families with young children. She sits on the Perinatal Programme Partnership Group. Home-Starts Sutton works with families that are finding being a parent challenging and are experiencing isolation, depression, long term illness, disability, multiple children under 5, struggling with parenting skills and boundaries or any combination of the above. They are well linked with Home-Start organisations from other boroughs.

 

Valerie Farmer (Richmond Borough Mind)

Valerie has been CEO of Richmond Borough Mind for 14 years and sits on the South West London Mental Health Partnership Delivery Group (PDG). Her organisation provides a breadth of mental health services for people (adults and young people) with low to moderate and more complex needs, including Crisis Cafes in Richmond and Kingston. They have been subcontracted to the NHS to provide Step 2 Talking Therapies (IAPT) services for 12 years. Locally she chairs the Richmond Mental Health and Wellbeing  Alliance, participates in many partnerships with local VCSE organisations and sits on a number of forums with representatives from other VCSE organisations, including the RCVS CEO network, Voluntary Sector Forum and Health and Care Partnership. She has experience of bringing the VCSE and users’ voice to decision making tables through the Mental Health transformation work over the past 3 years, and preceding this in 2016 represented the voluntary sector in the development of Outcomes Based Commissioning.

 

Raje Ballagan-Evans (Social Interest Group)

Raje sits on the South West London Mental Health Partnership Delivery Group (PDG) and brings a wealth of personal and professional experience to this role through a lifelong carer and advocate for her severely disabled sister and many years of management in a range of grassroots services as a qualified registered manager and a policy professional.

Social Interest Group is a mental health charity working in Kent and Croydon that provides services to adults across the SMI, criminal justice, alcohol and substance use and homeless pathways, as well as women’s homelessness and women’s refuges.

Her passion is to overcome information barriers and siloed ways of working to raise awareness and she is highly skilled in creating models of practical application. She has a Master’s degree was in Applied Contextual Theology.

 

How do you become a representative?

 The Alliance is keen to make sure the voice of the voluntary sector and the communities we work with is represented in any relevant ICS board/partnership at South West London level. This is why we have created a streamlined process for the appointment of VCSE representatives 

Our Voluntary Sector representatives are CEOs/senior managers of local charities/community groups with expertise and knowledge of the sector. Their role is to speak on behalf of the Alliance and advocate for the views and perspective of the sector and promote joint working. See a full role description.

We try our best to contribute towards the cost VCSE representatives sustain for attending these meetings (budget permitting). Read our Reimbursement Policy.

Are you an ICS partnership / board and would like someone from the VCSE sector to contribute to your work/meetings? Fill in this form and send it to sara.milocco@cvalive.org.uk.

Are you a local VCSE organisation interested in getting involved as a voluntary sector representative for the SWL VCSE Alliance? Check if there are any open opportunities and apply for them below.