About UsOur Staff

Sally Vicaria

Sally leads and manages the International programme team.  She is responsible for the acquisition, management and evaluation of grants from institutional donors. 

Matt Wenham

Matt has 23 years fundraising and communications experience at organisations including Emmanuel International, Action for Children, Practical Action, the University of Oxford and most recently at World Vision UK. Husband to Ally, Dad to Sammy and chief walker for the family dog, Brian!

Shabnam Zamurd

Shabnam is an FCA, she previously worked for the Tussauds Group and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Chantrey Vellacott DFK in 2001.

Lydia Baffour Awuah

Lydia is our Gender specialist, supporting the design of programmes to include women and gender awareness training within communities.  She currently manages our portfolio of programmes in Ghana and Mozambique.  Lydia also oversees our impact monitoring and evaluation.

Mandy Burrows

Mandy manages our refugee programme in Uganda (RISE – Refugees: Innovation, Self-reliance and Empowerment), working closely with our in-country partners, plus the education portfolio in Uganda and Pakistan.

Noah Ssempijja

Noah Ssempijja is our Refugee Programme Coordinator in Uganda. He is in charge of end to end management of the programme from field implementation, compliance, partnerships management, and monitoring, evaluation and learning. He is our focal personal for all refugee activities in Uganda.

Robert Igalo

Robert Igalo is a Financial Inclusion Project Manager in Uganda with 10 years’ experience working on Financial Inclusion, Livelihood and Environment. Prior to joining Opportunity International, he was the Team Leader for Livelihood and Environment at the Danish Refugee Council. He is a Rehabilitation Expert and a Monitoring and Evaluation specialist.

Tamsin Scurfield

Tamsin Scurfield is our Business Development and Partnerships Manager for Uganda. She leads in fundraising efforts for Opportunity International in Uganda, establishing and cultivating potential donors and managing partnerships within Uganda

Melissa Bell

Melissa manages our Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme based in Ghana, supporting small and medium business within the WASH supply chain. She has a background in WASH health impact assessment and implementation of International research projects.

Pete Parisetti

Pete has more than two decades of experience working in international emergency aid.  He is responsible for managing our programme in Rwanda which supports farmer cooperatives and savings groups.  Pete is based in Glasgow.

Rachel English

Rachel English is our Resource Development Manager. Her primary responsibility is to prepare reports and proposals for current and potential Trust and Foundation donors.

Damon Boughen

Damon is the Philanthropy Manager for Opportunity International and has over ten years experience in the charity sector. Previously, worked for Oxfam for five years and also managed Oxford Hospitals Charity’s corporate partnerships.

He also holds an MA from the University of Warwick in International Relations and published a book on gender in development.

Jenny Dunn

Jenny leads on our marketing and communication strategy and activities - these include direct mail, publications, media relations, brand and digital.

Emily Wilson

Emily loves to share stories of hope found in unlikely places. Working as our Communications Officer she writes and creates content to raise awareness about people who are changing the world in extraordinary ways.

Natalie Organ

A member of the fundraising team since 2017, Natalie has worked across a number of areas to secure support for our work. She now focuses on leading Opportunity's fundraising and stewardship activities– including events with our Patron, HRH The Princess Royal.

Perihan Doganay

Perihan joined Opportunity in May 2017. She completed her Finance and Accounting degree in Canada in 2013 and has worked in a variety of finance related roles since. Perihan oversees our management accounts, alongside managing our database.