UK staff

Andrew Betts - Director

Andrew is responsible for overseeing the charity’s management and fundraising. He is an experienced development manager who previously worked as an agricultural and water project manager in Kenya and as a fundraiser for Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and Practical Action. Read more.

Rob Aley - Kenya Programme Manager

Rob’s extensive experience in community development includes working as a special needs advisor with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) in Kenya and as a small enterprise specialist for Practical Action. He also runs his own candle-making business. Read more.

Jane Betts - Uganda Programme Manager

Jane has worked for more than twenty years in development including roles in education, recruitment and more recently disability mainstreaming and advocacy for the development agency World Vision. Read more.

Trustees

Alice Gathoni has worked in the education sector in Kenya for nearly 20 years as a special education teacher, co-ordinator, examiner and college tutor. Besides her work as an educator, Alice is passionate about helping disadvantaged young people find and realise their purpose in life. She recently completed her PhD on the use of social media by young people with disabilities in Kenya. Read more.

Carole Holloway ACMA, CGMA is a Chartered Management Accountant who has worked for organisations including Britannia Airways, Compass Group and the Canal & River Trust, where she got her first taste of working for a charity. Read more. 

Pratima Dattani is the Chief Officer of a charity leading 20 different organisations to support vulnerable people in their community. She helps establish services co-designed with users, facilitates collaboration between stakeholders and promotes the adoption of new techonology. Pratima is committed to accountability, good governance, transparency and openness and has a keen interest in demonstrating impact. Read more.

Mandy Smith is a development worker and fundraiser with a wide-ranging experience gained in charities and NGOs including Ockenden International, Practical Action, the British Red Cross and Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital Charity. Read more.

Patrons

Martyn Joseph is a powerful singer and songwriter whose expressive and poignant lyrics speak to the soul. During a career spanning 30 years and as many albums he has created his own style and reputation as a mesmerising live performer. His passion for equality and social justice led him to join Advantage Africa as Patron and for more than ten years he has been a committed advocate for our work.

Jon Snow is a renowned, award-winning journalist. Before becoming the main presenter of Channel 4 News in 1989, he held posts as ITN's Washington correspondent and diplomatic editor. Jon became a Patron of Advantage Africa after presenting our BBC Radio 4 Appeal which featured a family affected by albinism in Kamuli District, Uganda. Jon worked as a VSO volunteer teacher in the same region in the late 1960s.

Partners

Advantage Africa works through local partner organisations in Kenya and Uganda. Agnes Musembi, Burgwin Muthoka and Paul Lwanga are among the many people who implement our projects on the ground.

View our partners

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