Warwickshire based international development charity Practical Action has appointed its first Africa based chair as part of a drive to diversify its board.

Johannesburg based Sazini Mojapelo will take over from current chair Martin Tyler in December.

As well as leading the NGO’s board she will continue as chief executive of South Africa Gender Based Violence and Femicide Response Fund.

Her appointment is one of five appointments to the board aimed at ensuring its leaders reflect the international reach of its work and staff.

Also joining the board as a trustee is Mexico based climate and sustainability expert Isabel Studer Noguez, and Claire Ireland an advocacy expert and director of programmes of The Elders, a human rights and sustainability group set up by Nelson Mendela.

Gender expert Jae Sloane, who is senior director, women’s empowerment and gender equality with the Asia Foundation, also joins the charity’s board, as does fundraising and communications expert Aki Temiseva, who is a former chief executive of World Vision Finland.

“As the world faces more complex challenges, it is vital that organisations like Practical Action are there to provide a blueprint for what can be done,” said Mojapelo.

“To do this successfully it is also vital, the organisation reflects the diversity of the people it works with, and that work for it, and I am greatly looking forward to leading the organisation through the next years.”

Practical Action is launching a new five year strategy next year to build on its work to support communities impacted by climate change.

We have appointed our first African chair of trustees, along with four other new members of our board! It will bring world class leadership and guidance to our work at a vital time when we are developing our new strategy for 2025-2030: https://t.co/rG3mC1cABu

— Practical Action (@PracticalAction) July 15, 2024

Tyler added: “These new trustees will provide world-class leadership and guidance to our work.

“With a breadth of global expertise in gender, fundraising, advocacy and sustainability they will further enable us to understand and tackle social and environmental problems and create change at speed and scale.

“I am excited to see what the organisation can achieve in the next five years with such an exciting and expert group of people leading the way.”

Earlier this week the Association of Chairs (AoC) announced an action plan to improve diversity among chairs of charity boards.

The move has been revealed in its strategic plan for 2024 to 2027, as “our chairs are not representative of the different elements of our society”, said the AoC.

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