Paul grew up in Stockport and has lived in Manchester for over 20 years. He has spent over 15 years working within systems that focus too much on people’s issues and not enough on their strengths, skills, passions and joys. Over that time he has learnt a lot about the problems within these systems but is happy to admit he doesn’t have the solutions and likes to focus his efforts on ways to bring diverse people together to explore these issues through using different approaches that value all voices, such as running systems changers programmes, deep democracy, theory u and practices drawn from shamanism and other ancient cultures.

Karen has worked at Lankelly Chase for over 7 years, and as Office and HR Manager looks after the LC team and all its visitors. As part of the GM SystemsChangers team, she helps provide a link back to the mission and wider work of Lankelly Chase.
Originally from the Wirral, Karen moved down to London in 1999 and spent 13 years in a variety of roles in Recruitment, including working on the 2012 Olympics, before joining Lankelly Chase. She is grateful every day for the opportunity to work with people so passionate and committed to making positive, lasting change.

Afshan was born in Dubai and lost in Manchester. She is a writer of plays, prose, performance pieces and passive aggressive tweets. Afshan writes from a place of anger, often trying to right the worlds wrongs through words and humour. As well as her own writing, Afshan is keen to develop other younger and emerging artists and sits on the boards of Manchester Literature Festival and Pie Radio. Afshan also sits on the steering committee for Northern Police Monitoring Project, an independent campaigning and advocacy organisation that challenges police harassment and violence.

I have been dabbling in systems change and sustainability since around 2005. I started at Lankelly Chase about 5 years ago and I was drawn to them because they were one of the few organisations (I had heard of) who were working at a systems level to create positive change for people who were finding themselves stuck on the margins of the margins.

Talk to me about
Creative and participatory facilitation methods, conflict resolution and other processes for deep dialogue, systems change processes, pattern spotting, connecting different people in different parts of a system together and Detroit techno 😊

Matt has spent most of the last ten years partnering with other people who want to develop agency, autonomy and work which has meaning for them. Matt loves working in the creative spaces which emerge as a means of subverting the systems which perpetuate severe and multiple disadvantage, and offer a means of catharsis for those who’ve been oppressed by them. He works alongside people using methods such as Legislative Theatre, Community Reporting, Poetry, art work and community activism to help reveal how systems impact on people and bring about systems change. He wants to see philanthropy recognise its role is in restoring and repairing as opposed to fixing and saving.

I was born in Uganda- ‘the pearl of Africa’ and founded Support and Action for Women’s Network (SAWN) and Chair of Mama Health and Poverty Partnership (MHaPP). I am passionate about women and families having a voice in issues concerning them and their future and have lived experiences in the hardships and barriers women and their families face.
I have been working within the African communities in Greater Manchester for 16 years. My roles include advocacy, advice, and training and one to one support in various issues affecting the African community like Immigration, FGM, Domestic Violence, Parenting, Money Matters and other issues. I also enjoy supporting community organisation start-ups.