FSC Team

Steina Bjorgvinsdottir is the Executive Director of the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative and provides strategic leadership to this young, global network, driving the strategic direction, evolution, and growth of FSC. She also oversees the management of stakeholder relationships and governance of the Collaborative. With two decades of experience spanning child protection, organizational development, and humanitarian action, Steina is deeply committed to safeguarding vulnerable populations worldwide. She holds a postgraduate diploma in international human rights law, a master’s degree in international development, and a bachelor’s degree in international social work. Steina brings a versatile skill set honed through previous roles with organisations like Oak Foundation, UNHCR, and UNICEF.

Tom Burke is Funder Safeguarding Collaborative’s Regional Advisor leading support for network members based in the United Kingdom. Tom has been engaged in safeguarding issues for most of his life – transitioning from service user to practitioner. He has previously worked at the Children’s Rights Alliance for England, leading policy and law reform on participation rights, and at Y Care International, the international development agency of the YMCA movement in the UK and Ireland, where he spent eight years in a variety of senior roles. As a freelance consultant, Tom has led multiple safeguarding projects and programs for charities, including delivery of the UK government-funded Safeguarding Training Fund and development of the NCVO Knowhow safeguarding guidance suite. He was co-author of the report “Safeguarding young people during the Covid-19 pandemic: a guide for designated safeguarding leads in voluntary youth organisations.” Tom regularly conducts training and speaks at national conferences on policy and practice in safeguarding in charities. More widely, Tom works on issues related to evaluation and research on services for children and young people with a particular interest in equalities and participation in decision-making. He continues to undertake direct work with children and young people.

Leila Conroy provides administrative support to Funder Safeguarding Collaborative and onboards new members. Her experience prior to joining FSC includes almost ten years of working in administration roles, most recently as an Administration Manager. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international hospitality and tourism management from the University of Surrey.

Shermin Moledina is the Regional Safeguarding Lead for Funder Safeguarding Collaborative (FSC), where she supports the Regional Advisors for FSC’s communities of practice in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Shermin is passionate about social justice and challenging cultural norms that prevent women and children from living as equal citizens. She has a master’s degree in social work and 28 years of experience working on child protection, safeguarding, homelessness, and mental health programming with children, youth, and families. She has worked with nongovernmental organizations, primarily in East Africa and the US, leading, developing, and managing evidence-based programming on child welfare, protection, homelessness, and trauma-informed care. During the last ten years, Shermin has worked as a consultant supporting organizations and governments in developing interventions and methodologies in working with children, youth, and their families, with a particular focus on child protection, systems strengthening, family reintegration, alternative care, and safeguarding. Currently, Shermin is also a Safeguarding Advisor with Segal Family Foundation (SFF), providing support in enhancing SFF’s safeguarding policies and procedures and developing a strong safeguarding culture and practice for SFF and its partners.

Anuradha Mukherjee leads support for network members with funding portfolios in South Asia. Based in India, Anuradha has extensive experience working in grassroots, national, and international organizations on child rights, child safeguarding, gender-based violence, women’s and girls’ rights and empowerment, and grant management. As an independent consultant, Anuradha has been supporting nongovernmental organizations and implementing partners of funders to strengthen their safeguarding practices. She has worked with Oak Foundation, Human Dignity Foundation, Terre des hommes Foundation, and Ashoka. Anuradha has a master’s degree in development communication. She is fluent in English and Bengali.

Shameem Sadiq-Tang is a UK-based safeguarding consultant working with Funder Safeguarding Collaborative. She has worked in the charity sector for over 20 years including at direct delivery charities in the UK and internationally, as well as over three years as a Safeguarding Lead at Comic Relief, a large funder. Shameem has extensive experience in human rights, most recently in the preventing violence against women and girls sector working with Refuge, the UK’s leading domestic abuse charity. She has also worked in an international context at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International, where her work included leading the global Individuals at Risk Campaign. Shameem was the architect of Survivor Activism at Freedom from Torture, a charity supporting torture survivors. In recent years, she has supported charities in reviewing and strengthening their safeguarding structures and practice, developed and implemented programs of work around lived experience engagement including activism, and managed change processes in underperforming areas. Throughout her career, she has specialized in trauma-informed practice, safeguarding, ethics, and user engagement led by people with lived experience of trauma and mental health issues, all of which are areas of genuine passion.

Sarah Stevenson is the US Safeguarding Advisor for the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative (FSC), where she is leading support for network members based in the United States. Sarah is a freelance safeguarding consultant with over 25 years of experience in safeguarding, child protection, and other related areas. She has worked with funders, NGOs, the UN, and sports bodies across the global North and South. As a consultant, Sarah has supported the work of FIFA’s child protection and safeguarding department, UNICEF’s safeguarding team, Safe Sport International, and Better Care Network amongst others. Prior to her work as a consultant, Sarah held senior positions at ChildFund Alliance, Plan International, Save the Children, and the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. She is based in New York.

Karen Walker-Simpson is the Founder-Director of the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative (FSC) and now leads the specialist technical support that FSC provides to grant-making organisations around the world. Karen’s work is informed by her doctoral research into the effectiveness of international safeguarding standards and donor requirements, as well as research on funder approaches to safeguarding conducted on behalf of FSC. Karen started her career working with children in care in the UK before moving to Ecuador to run Fundación Juconi, which provides therapeutic support for street-working children and their families. Karen spent eight years as a Safeguarding Specialist for international NGOs working across Africa, Asia, and Latin America before moving to Comic Relief as the organization’s Head of Safeguarding in 2018. In addition to her professional doctorate, Karen has a master’s degree in international human rights. She is fluent in Spanish.