our staff
Our staff in Ghana and Uganda are all local people. They were carefully chosen due to their commitment to community empowerment and their passion for childhood development. Their work is facilitated and supported by a team of expert volunteers and a part-time fundraiser in the UK.
Alison Naftalin – Founder and Director
Alison founded Lively Minds back in 2008 following a two month volunteer placement in Ghana. During this time she observed the complex challenges facing rural communities, but also saw the opportunities for change and development. She took a year’s break from her work as a Government Lawyer to return to Ghana, and then Uganda, to make these ideas a reality, drawing on her past experience working with young people.
Alison has had a wide range of experience working with youth and children. During her school years she volunteered as a youth leader, working with children and teenagers in the UK and the United States. This formative experience has provided much of the inspiration for Lively Minds projects.
Alison runs Lively Minds on a voluntary basis devoting all her free time and holidays. Her ‘day job’ is a legal advisor for the UK Government where she specialises in human rights, public law and the criminal justice system. She recently won the prestigious Civil Service Award for Volunteering.
Find out more about how Alison set up Lively Minds
David Abukari – Country Manager, Ghana
David runs our operations in Ghana. He previously worked as a teacher and also in community-development projects. David was introduced to Lively Minds through Action Aid and helped set up one of our first Play Centres in Wayamba village. He is currently studying for a degree in Human Settlement Planning.
“I saw the potential Lively Minds could have and wanted to encourage expansion into more remote communities.”
Sarah Kanyonga – Country Manager, Uganda
Sarah was the founder of Samika Counselling Centre, one of Lively Minds partners. She opened the centre in her village to provide support and counselling to the many vulnerable single women and widows who were struggling alone.
When Alison first came to Uganda she partnered with Sarah to set up a Play Centre in her village using the women from Samika as the volunteers. Alison was hugely impressed with Sarah’s drive, creativity and enormous dedication.
“I saw the impact the Play Centre had on my community, and so was keen to become involved and help continue Lively Mind’s work”.
Previously Sarah worked as a primary school teacher and then deputy headmistress at St Gonzaga Primary School for five years. She also worked as the Child Development Officer for Jinja Child Development Centre for 15 years.
Joshua Buluke – Programmes Manager, Uganda
Alison first worked with Joshua to set up a Play Centre in his own village, Buwagi. Alison was extremely impressed by Joshua’s excellent teaching skills and quick grasp of the learning through play concept. When Alison left Uganda Joshua was keen to stay involved in the work of Lively Minds.
After leaving school, Joshua studied at a teacher training college and from there taught in Kampala. He’s the Director of HOGU, a Community Based Organisation in the village of Buwagi, Jinja. HOGU educates the community about HIV/AIDS through music, drama, and dance. Joshua also founded and directs Twin Primary School in his village.
Oscar Ranzo – Child Sacrifice Prevention Programme Manager, Uganda
Oscar heads up our Child Sacrifice Prevention programme. A prolific writer, he fell in love with books after reading Enid Blyton’s Hardy Boy books and the Nancy Drew series. He started writing in high school, and at 21 began taking it seriously. Oscar has written a collection of stories for children and a collection for adults.
Oscar was raised by his mother – his father was abducted by the military when he was 4 years old and never seen again. In 2001, Oscar was prompted by the death of his mother, who succumbed to AIDS, to take up development work. He started working for ‘Jinja Network for the Marginalized Urban Child and Youth’ on a project to get street children off the streets by teaching them vocational skills before placing them in peer headed families. In 2004 he joined the Mildmay Centre, an HIV referral centre. In 2006 he founded Sing against AIDS, an initiative to involve young people in the fight against Aids through music. In 2008 he joined Students Partnership Worldwide as Coordinator for Dance4Life, a youth friendly AIDS initiative which incorporated dance as part of an HIV workshop to engage young people. The programme culminated with the biennial international Dance4Life event bringing together, by satellite link, more than 100,000 thousand young people in 22 countries across the globe to celebrate their contribution in the fight against AIDS.
Eric Adongo – Project Officer, Bolga, Ghana
As well as working for Lively Minds, Eric is the headteacher at Namoo primary school. When we piloted our first Play Centre project in Bolga, Alison sought advice from Eric as to whether he could recommend anyone who might be interested in taking up the post. Eric immediately volunteered having heard about the success of our projects in Tamale.
Alhassan Hussein – Project Officer, Tamale, Ghana
Alhassan befriended Alison on her first day in Tamale. At the time he was working for Maltiti Girls Development Centre, an NGO providing extra classes for girls. He’s also worked for Cosmic Volunteers, placing international volunteers in local NGOs.
Alhassan helped Alison set-up a Play Centre in Vittin village. He continued to mentor the volunteers in Vittin and eventually started working in the kindergarten at the primary school.