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Chief Operations Officer to a well known Civil Society Organisation in South Africa. Former UK Civil Servant with strong leadership, communication and project management skills, including significant experience of building international relationships in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia, most recently developing consistency of UK Government messaging and managing and coaching diverse teams. |
 Contact Helen Chorlton
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Area of Expertise: |
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Government, Governance, Reforms
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Human Rights, Law, Migration, Conflicts, Justice
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Professional Experience: |
Chief Operations Officer to a well known Civil Society Organisation in South Africa. Former UK Civil Servant with strong leadership, communication and project management skills, including significant experience of building international relationships in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia, most recently developing consistency of UK Government messaging across Pakistan and managing, coaching and developing multi-cultured and diverse teams.
Current role (since August 2014) as the Chief Operations Officer for the Treatment Action Campaign, a civil society organisation, based in South Africa. This involves leading change to enable the organisation to refocus it’s delivery in a changing health policy and donor environment as well as enabling the organisation to diversify its fundraising. The role also entails exercising managerial oversight of operations to ensure that all staffed functions and financial resources are used effectively to implement strategy set by the Board and National Council so that the organisation brings about improvements to policy and implementation in the health sector for people living with HIV.
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Education: |
MSc Development Management (University of London);
BA (Hons) Philosophy (University of Warwick);
A Levels: Theology (A), German (B), Art (A), General Studies (B);
GCSEs: Science (AA), Maths (A), English Language (A), English Literature (A), German (A), Religious Studies (A), Geography (A*), Art (A*).
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Affiliations and Achievements: |
Operational Management and Planning
In my current role as the Chief Operations Officer at the Treatment Action Campaign, I have been working to help steer the organisation through a significant and difficult period of change, including a current change management exercise to restructure the organisation, a severe funding crisis, repairing ‘bruised’ donor relations, and rebuilding confidence with our Board s. As part of this, the role has also entailed exercising managerial oversight of operations to ensure that all staffed functions and financial resources are used effectively to implement strategy set by the Board.
I have also taken forward a wide range of strategic and operation planning work within UK Government. The formation and delivery of an effective Security Sector Reform (SSR) and Human Rights Strategy for the UK Government’s role in Iraq was a key part of one of my former positions. I helped deliver this strategy through the oversight and management of the UK Governments Peacekeeping budget and the implementation of supporting policies. As part of this, I worked closely with other government departments, the British Police and outside organisations to agree on interventions.
Systems and Reporting
I have a large amount of experience in reporting for Boards and Committees. In my roles within the UK Government, I have had to develop both strategy updates and more general update reports against objectives for the UK Foreign Office Board and other bodies. One example of this is the Annual Report for the UK Foreign Office’s progress against its Diversity and Equality targets which I formerly led on. This often involved a lot of data analysis and consultation with groups during the development phase of this report. My role also included overseeing the development of the public version of this report.
More recently, I have developed various papers to update the Treatment Action Campaign’s Board of Directors on the organisation over the past fifteen months. Such papers have included financial anaylsis, strategy documents, and documentation for decision making regarding the future footprint of the organisation and also legal matters. I also regularly oversee all of the Treatment Action Campaign’s reports to donors.
Annual Budget/Financial Management/Personnel Management
With regards to budget and financial management, one of my former roles involved managing the UK Government’s budget for interventions in Afghanistan. This budget was made up of close to 100 projects and covered the cost of approximately seven different Government departments/agencies interventions in Afghanistan. In my current role, I also oversee a budget of approximately ZAR 36 million for the Treatment Action Campaign and support the Chief Financial Officer in this process. The Treatment Action Campaign has a wide ranging array of both national and international donors that we need to account to. As part of my role, I also assist with and oversee the grant proposal writing process and budgeting for such initiatives.
On the personnel management side, my previous roles in UK Government have involved managing diverse teams in difficult environments and reporting directly to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Board. I am no stranger to tackling issues head on, working on complex issues, bringing people together to deliver and liaising with a wide range of stakeholders. As part of my management experience, I have also coached individuals and groups to develop their capabilities, and provided guidance on management, policy and programme issues, including decision making and risk analysis.
In my current role, I oversee an organisation that is currently made up of approximately 140 staff/volunteers. This has tested my management skills in a number of ways, particularly due to the informal nature of the organisation, the skills make up of those working there and the impact of working with many people who are personally suffering
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Available for: |
- Consulting assignments
- Job opportunities
- Being headhunted – make me an offer
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