The chief executive of a UK-registered children's charity working in Africa is stepping down to allow a leader based in the continent to take her place.
Anna-mai Andrews is stepping down after 13 years as Chance for Childhood’s CEO at the end of April, with the charity aiming to hire her replacement from one of the African countries in which it operates.
The decision is part of the charity’s long-term strategy to move power back to the countries and communities it supports.
Andrews will help with the handover process, which is estimated to take around three to four months.
Ven Nyamondo, the current chief operating officer based in Rwanda, will act as the interim chief executive as the charity makes the transition.
‘It felt disingenuous for me to continue’
The charity, which protects and educates children threatened by violence, neglect and conflict, has operational hubs in Ghana and Rwanda. It operates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Sri Lanka.
Andrews’ replacement could be from any of the countries it operates, the charity said.
“This is not just a handover of power, but a new way of working that will create lasting change and redress imbalances of power that are so common in the international development sector,” it stated in a press release.
When Andrews joined the organisation as its chief executive 13 years ago, she said the charity was “very” UK-centric, non-diverse and did not have anyone in any of the countries it operated in.
She told Civil Society: “Over time, it felt disingenuous for me to continue in my position.
“Genuinely, I feel like I need to step back. It has to be an African leadership for it to be truly authentic to the values of Chance for Childhood.
“It was fundamentally wrong in terms of our ethos, and it takes a long time to completely shift how an organisation is set up.
“When we first set up our shifting power strategy, about six years ago, we had short-term objectives, medium-term objectives, and this was a long-term objective.
“So it's really nice to have met the short and medium-term objectives and then now finally meeting the long term objectives.”
The charity recorded a £1.47m income for the financial year ending March 2024 and employed an average of 58 full and part-time staff, with 86% of its workers being African nationals working in Africa.
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