Council of Management

The Council is democratically elected annually by War on Want's members and decides the direction of War on Want's work. Anyone can become a member of War on Want by giving a regular donation.

The present War on Want Council of Management is:

Steve Preston, Chair
Steve was previously a senior national officer with PCS, the major civil and public services union. For the last few years he has been an active volunteer for War on Want, helping with its trade union work.

Polly Jones, Vice-Chair
Polly is International Officer with UNISON, the public services trade union.

David Hillman, Vice-Chair
David previously worked as campaign coordinator of Landmine Action, successfully working for the ban on landmines in the late 1990s, before he moved to Drop the Debt. David is now coordinator of the Stamp Out Poverty network.

Sue Branford, Treasurer
Sue is a journalist and broadcaster who lived in Brazil for many years. She has worked for the BBC, the Guardian and the Financial Times. She has written books about Brazil and international debt, and has written a history of War on Want's project partner, MST, the Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil.

Atif Choudhury
Atif is one of the founders of the UK chapter of the International Solidarity Movement, and has an MSc in Conflict and Development from SOAS. Atif co-founded Zaytoun Olive Oil Cooperative in 2004, enabling farmers in the West Bank to trade past Israel's apartheid wall. In 2009 Zaytoun's work resulted in Palestinian olive oil and olives achieving the world's first Fairtrade certification for such products.

Mark Luetchford
Mark is the co-author of War on Want's authorised history, and has worked as a campaigner for War on Want (in the 1980s), Oxfam and the Soil Association. He is currently Chair of the Western Sahara Campaign.

Branislava Milosevic
Branislava started her career as a journalist in her native Serbia and then at the BBC World Service. During over 10 years of working in digital communications in the UK charity sector, she worked on a number of high-performing digital campaigning and fundraising initiatives. Branislava is now head of digital at Save the Children.

Mansoor Mirza
Mansoor has managed media development projects in conflict and post-conflict societies throughout the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Afghanistan for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. He is currently a freelance project consultant and is completing his PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

James O'Nions
James is co-editor of Red Pepper magazine. He has a background in anti-corporate and anti-war activism and was a founding member of Iraq Occupation Focus. He currently works for the World Development Movement, organising activist events.

Guillermo Rogel
Guillermo has worked in International Development for more than 20 years. Currently Growth Project Manager at Amnesty International, his previous role was as International Programmes Director at War on Want where he was responsible for all the overseas activities in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Gaynelle Samuel
Gaynelle is the Policy and International Officer to the Deputy General Secretary of PCS, the civil and public services union.

Dave Spooner
Dave is the Operations Manager for Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), responsible for overseeing programmes in support of unions and associations of workers in the informal economy. He is a Board member of the Global Labour Institute, a trustee of the General Federation of Trade Unions Education Trust, and a member of Unite the Union.

Ben Birnberg, Company Secretary
Ben is an eminent civil rights lawyer and has been involved with War on Want since the early 1970s. As Company Secretary, Ben is not a member of the Council of Management but is appointed by the trustees.