Welcome to Commonwealth Local Government Forum

CLGF staff

LONDON HQ


Lucy Slack

Secretary-General

Lucy is Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, having worked for the organisation since 1999. She is responsible for policy, which contributes to the strategic direction of the organisation, and takes a leading role in the development and management of CLGF’s capacity building projects. Her specific areas of expertise are decentralisation, intergovernmental frameworks, local economic development, local government finance and inclusive local government. She is responsible for managing the work of CLGF’s programme and relationship-building and advocacy work with members and partners across the Commonwealth. She directs the work of CLGF’s regional offices in Fiji, South Africa, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Trinidad and Tobago. She has also been pivotal in the design and management of CLGF’s biennial Commonwealth Local Government conferences.
 
Before CLGF, Lucy worked for the Local Government International Bureau (the international section of the Local Government Association for England and Wales) where she was responsible for the day-to-day management of a UK, government-funded programme of support to local authorities in Central and Eastern Europe. She also worked for a number of years in the planning and economic development department of a local authority, before which she was living and working overseas. She has a BA in German and Politics from the University of Bradford.


Alice George Turner Rae

Executive Assistant

 


Claire Frost

Programme Manager

Claire is a core member of the CLGF Programmes Team developing funding proposals, interfacing with donors and partners and supporting CLGF projects at the regional and country level including design, development and delivery with an emphasis on monitoring and evaluation. She currently coordinates CLGF’s DFID funded programme Reducing poverty through local economic development (LED) in the Commonwealth working in Southern Africa, West Africa and South Asia at the regional, country and local level; and the EU funded project Empowering Local Authorities in partner countries for enhanced governance and more effective development outcomes working in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific on localising the SDGs; and CLGF EU funded project Strengthening the Associations of Local Governments and their Members for Enhanced Governance and Effective Development Outcomes in Pakistan. She is also a member of the team managing the Commonwealth Women in Local Government Network (ComWLG) working to support work in local politics and decision making, as well as supporting CLGF’s Strategic Partnership with the European Union, Cities Alliance and PLATFORMA among other partners. She has been CLGF's technical representative on the EU Policy Forum for Development (PFD) since 2017.

 

Prior to joining CLGF she worked as a Programme Officer with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) in Barcelona on the GOLD project (Global Observatory of Local Democracy and Decentralisation) and during her time with the team produced multi-region reports on local government finance and local government service provision. She has a Masters degree in urban planning and a BA in communications.

 


Susan Handley

Communications Manager

Susan is responsible for CLGF’s strategic communications: branding, website, social media, publications. She specialises in communications and media linked to local government and international policy development. Her years of experience in the public sector include working for UK local authorities (London borough of Southwark and Central Bedfordshire); the Local Government Association for England and Wales; and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 

 

For ten years, she advised councils on international partnerships and strategies; representing the LGA on national, European and international bodies. She researched, wrote and edited several publications, including a handbook on international links; designed and managed capacity-building projects in various countries after securing external funding; and presented at events/delivered bespoke training on local government partnerships. She established and managed the UK's International Cooperation Officer Network and the Forum for UK-China Local Government Partnerships. She has a BA in German and Business Studies; studied for an MA in Contemporary History and Politics and is qualified to teach English as a foreign language.


Idil Mohamed

Policy and Research Officer

Idil is responsible for leading on the policy and research outputs of CLGF, working closely with the programmes and regional teams to draw out lessons and good practices to strengthen policy making and knowledge exchange in local government across the Commonwealth. 

 

Prior to joining CLGF, Idil worked as Policy Analyst at the OECD Secretariat and the Australian delegation to the OECD on a range of cross-cutting policy areas including  development aid/finance, trade, tax, sustainable economic development and emerging economies. 

 

Idil holds a BA Honours in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics. She is  fluent in English, French, Italian, Somali, Hindi, Urdu and Turkish. 


Chaminda Kevitiyagala

Finance Officer

Chaminda oversees the accounting and book-keeping at CLGF, including supporting the registration and payment for the CLGF conferences and events. 

Chaminda has extensive practical experience, as well as academic and professional qualifications in the UK and Sri Lanka. Chaminda is currently pursuing the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants ACCA course, building on his accounting experience in Sri Lanka and the UK. Chaminda has worked for Friends of The Elderly, Regis Mutual Management as well as the Heritage Group before joining CLGF.

 


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Dzifa Tay

HR and Finance Manager/ Membership

Dzifa joined CLGF in 1995 and is responsible for the organisation's HR and membership engagement, and is also Deputy Finance Manager. Her indepth and eclectic mix of skills qualifies her to work across all three areas.


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Sam Tekyi-Berto

Director of Finance

Sam joined CLGF in 2001. He is responsible for managing the organisation's finances and budgeting. He provides strategic leadership and also works closely with regional offices and on the management of individual programme funding.


CLGF PACIFIC


Karibaiti Taoaba

Regional Director

Karibaiti first joined CLGF in November 2006 as a Senior Project Officer based at the Pacific office in Suva, Fiji. She became Regional Director in 2009 and has overall responsibility for CLGF Pacific in achieving its strategic vision and outcomes including planning, resourcing and staffing.


Before joining CLGF, Karibaiti worked for the Government of Kiribati for 18 years at middle and senior positions. She served as Permanent Secretary for three ministries in Kiribati which included the President's Office (1996-1998), the Ministry of Environment and Social Development (1998 - 2003) and the Ministry of Internal and Social Development (2003 - 2006). As Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Internal and Social Affairs, Karibaiti had oversight for the overall implementation of policies and administration in local government, support services to 22 island councils and 3 urban councils, decentralisation and rural development for all island councils in Kiribati. Karibaiti was in charge of the Electoral Commission and the national and local government elections in Kiribati from 2003 to 2006.

 

Karibaiti holds a BA in Administration and Politics from the University of the South Pacific and an MSc (Human Resource Development) from Victoria University, Manchester, UK. 


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Terry Parker

Regional Advisor

Terry Parker is currently CLGF Regional Adviser and works on new and special projects, as well as provides advisory assistance to CLGF activities in the regions. He started with CLGF in 2004 as Regional Manager for the CLGF Pacific Programme, then Regional Adviser to the Southern Africa Programme. Before joining CLGF, Terry was a local government Chief Executive Officer in his home country, Australia. He was also the first Director of Urban Government, and later Chief Executive Officer of Manzini Municipal Council, both in Swaziland (now e-Swatini).

 

He has also worked with the United Nations as manager of the regional Alliance of Mayors Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level (AMICAALL) programme based in Namibia. Terry holds a Bachelor of Business (Local Government) degree from Charles Sturt University, Australia.

 


CLGF SOUTHERN AFRICA


Nyasha Simbanegavi

Regional Programme Manager

Nyasha is responsible for leading the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting of the Southern Africa Regional programme which seeks to support CLGF members to localise the Sustainable Development Goals. Nyasha coordinates and supports country projects in the region as well as facilitating regional peer-to-peer learning.  Before being promoted to Regional Programme Manager, Nyasha worked as a Governance Officer and Project Coordinator for CLGF projects in Zimbabwe and South Africa respectively. Prior to joining CLGF, Nyasha worked for the Housing People of Zimbabwe, a housing NGO and the Parliament of Zimbabwe.


Nyasha has a Masters in Public Administration: International Development from University of York, Post Graduate Diploma in Corporate Management from Nottingham Trent University and a Bachelor of Science Sociology Honours from the University of Zimbabwe.


Colisile Tfwala

Eswatini Project Officer

Colisile has a wealth of experience in economic development and leads on CLGF projects in Eswatini.


Zimasa Vasi

Regional Projects  Officer

Zimasa is primarily responsible for the planning, monitoring and dissemination of CLGF projects across Southern Africa. In addition, she plays a key role in the development and maintenance of effective relationships with implementing partners within local and central governments in the Southern Africa region. This includes promoting and publicising programmes and developing knowledge materials based on programme outcomes. She acts as a focal point for communications on regional activities.

 

Zimasa has more than 10 years’ experience working in both the Provincial Government in South Africa, within transport planning; and the South African Local Government Association, working on economic development and town planning. She also has a Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning and an undergraduate degree in Economics and Politics both from the University of Cape Town. 


CLGF ASIA


Anuya Kuwar

Regional Programme Officer

Anuya is responsible for CLGF projects and programmes in South Asia. She currently coordinates CLGF’s DFID funded programme Reducing poverty through local economic development (LED) in the Commonwealth in South Asia and at country level in India. She is also a member of the team managing the Commonwealth Women in Local Government Network (ComWLG) working to support work in local politics and decision making.
 
Prior to joining CLGF, she worked with renowned Child Rights Organizations in India. She has a Masters degree in Social Work and a BA in Psychology.

 


Rajah Shanmugarajah

Project Manager - Sri Lanka Programme

 

Shan is currently responsible for managing and reporting CLGF’s DFID funded programme - Reducing Poverty through Local Economic Development (LED) in Sri Lanka. He also worked on CLGF’s Commonwealth Secretariat funded programme Strengthening Local Governance for National Development (Sri Lanka). Before joining CLGF in August 2013, Shan worked as Senior Programme Officer at the Sri Lanka Local Government Association (FSLGA) and served as Deputy Project Coordinator at Swisscontact (Swiss Technical Corporation) for nine years. 


Shan holds a Master’s Degree in Development Studies & Public Policies and a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce. Shan also has got a Higher Diploma in International Relations (merit pass) from the Bandaranayake Centre for International Relations, Colombo, Sri Lanka.     
 


CLGF Caribbean


Sandra Singh

Programme Officer

Sandra has extensive experience in the Local Government sector with an aggregate of 16 years in managing regional and national Local Government Associations. Sandra pioneered the establishment of the Caribbean Association - CALGA and served as its Senior Technical Officer in the EU funded ARIAL Programme, which was designed to strengthen Local Government Associations in the ACP bloc of countries. Her experience in the Local Government sector includes conceiving, developing, and managing projects aimed at developmental Local Government. 


Joshua Ryan Min Lee

Programme Officer

 

 

Joshua is responsible for project co-ordination, administration, monitoring and evaluation; and provides support to the financial managemebt function; reporting to, and based in the CLGF Caribbean Office.

 

Joshua brings knowledge and experience from his work with international organisations on developmental and resilience projects.

Joshua holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB Hons.) from the University of London and has a background of work in advocacy.


Janine Xavier-Cross

Networks Officer

 

Janine is responsible for managing CLGF's Networks:

 

• Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Network; and

• Commonwealth Women in Local Government Network.

 

A development practitioner, Janine holds a BSc. Biological Sciences from King’s College (KCL), University of London and a MSc. Spatial Planning from University College London (UCL), University of London. Much of her work has seen her managing programmes of work geared toward reducing societal disparities and promoting progressive, sustainable development and economic growth across the country.  

 

Janine operates out of the CLGF Caribbean Office in Trinidad and Tobago and brings to CLGF, expertise and experience in Urban and Regional Planning; Research; Policy Development; Programme and Project Design, Monitoring, Evaluation, Implementation and Management; Poverty Reduction; Strategic Planning and supporting collaborative planning and community engagement.   


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