New chief executive to join Women’s Aid

Farah Nazeer will join the national domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid as chief executive later this year.

Currently, Nazeer is part of the senior leadership team at Action Aid UK as the deputy director of advocacy. Her work aims to end gender-based violence and ensure women’s economic rights. Nazeer will take up her new position on 1 March 2021.

Women’s Aid’s former permanent chief executive, Katie Ghose, stepped down in February 2019 after facing criticism for speaking at a UKIP conference when she was chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society.

The charity then had two co-acting chief executives for a while, Adina Claire and Nicki Norman. Claire was co-chief executive with Norman for 14 months.

Norman, who received an MBE in October for her work supporting domestic abuse survivors, is returning to her post as director of operations at Women's Aid.

'We will create the societal change needed to end domestic abuse'

Prior to Action Aid, Nazeer worked for Lumos, an organisation whose mission is to end the institutionalisation of children globally by 2050, as its special advisor on advocacy.

Nazeer has previously worked for Bond, the UK membership organisation for NGOs working on international issues, where she moved from her role as director of policy and campaigns into the position of joint interim chief executive.

Nazeer said: “I am delighted to be joining Women’s Aid as chief executive in March. It is an organisation and federation which I have greatly admired and I am excited to bring my knowledge and experience of working on women’s rights to the role. At a time when increasing numbers of women are experiencing domestic abuse, the work of Women’s Aid and the need to champion women’s rights is as urgent as ever.

“I am looking forward to meeting member organisations who deliver the lifesaving work, stakeholders, and survivors of domestic abuse who are at the heart of the organisation. Together we will work towards ensuring sustainability for our lifesaving services across the country so every survivor has access to support that truly meets her needs. And, together, we will create the societal change needed to end domestic abuse.”

Nazeer has also worked at the Motor Neurone Disease Association as director of external affairs and at the Women's Institute, the largest women’s membership organisation the UK, as head of public affairs.

She was also a Labour Party councillor at Newham Council in London.

Sarah Hill, chair of Women’s Aid, said: “On behalf of the Women’s Aid board of trustees, I would like to begin the New Year with the wonderful news that we have successfully appointed Farah Nazeer as the incoming Women’s Aid chief executive.

“Farah will be starting with us at the beginning of March, and, with her, she brings a wealth of experience of working to end violence against women and girls, and commitment to supporting our membership as we experience challenges like no other with the ongoing impact of Covid-19. We look forward to Farah meeting our members, survivors and valued supporters as we head into our 47th year.”

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