Meet the Team
Meet our dedicated team, passionate about empowering ethnic communities and fostering inclusivity for a brighter future
Meet our dedicated team, passionate about empowering ethnic communities and fostering inclusivity for a brighter future
Chair
Kate Belinis has held senior management positions in the charities sector: criminal justice system, community development/engagement, training, education, infrastructure services and equality, with people from diverse communities including rural, black Asian minority Ethnics and refugees. Prior to her voluntary and community roles, she worked in the private sector for 20 years in the analytical/testing of retail products and quality assurance sectors.
Her passion is in the development of vibrant sustainable communities and their infrastructure needs to enrich their communities and quality of life and wellbeing.
Kate has been a Trustee with homeless charity; local arts centre; and is Chair of Herts Equality Council and MENTER (Minority Ethnic Network in The Eastern Region). She has been a school governor in both primary and secondary schools.
She was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant in 2011 and received the Paul Harris Fellow award for her work on integration of diverse communities by Stevenage Rotary in 2018.
Secretary
Charanjit has lived in Stevenage since 1975, apart from about 4 years in the early 90’s. She attended Chells School in Stevenage and Hertfordshire University. Charanjit has worked extensively in the field of social work since 1994, beginning her career in Stevenage Family Centre and moving to running parenting programmes, lecturing in social work with the Buckinghamshire, Oxford and Reading Consortium. Charanjit worked in various teams in the field of Social Work and in 2006 set up her own company, Sansar Parenting working as Independent Consultant Social Worker.
Charanjit has been a longstanding Trustee for Stevenage World Forum where the fundamental role is to promote and undertake community engagement. Charanjit strongly believes in empowering communities as this leads to better decisions-making processes. Charanjit along with the other Trustees strive to improve organisational transparency and responsiveness. This is with a view to achieve community cohesiveness and to unearth the real issues for community groups. In addition there is a focus on celebrating the cultural richness we have and embracing values and beliefs and of course, diversity.
Charanjit is a member of the Stevenage Sikh Association and takes a lead in running the Punjabi School. She has been involved in this project for over 20 years. Charanjit is very proud of this project as it also promotes community and stakeholder engagement, building confidence and having a sense of belonging.
Peggy was born in Dungarvan, County Waterford and came to Stevenage in 1963. She came to stay with her sister who got her a job starting the very next day. She is a proud mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She is a retired social worker and uses her vast experience to help the most vulnerable members of our community.
Peggy was heavily involved with the Stevenage Credit Union and was the Chair for over 25 years. She is the Chair of Irish Network Stevenage, responsible for the development of the charity and all their social and cultural activities. As Trustee with the Stevenage World Forum she is heavily involved in fundraising and networking and is passionate about helping people connecting with others and with support agencies. Peggy often runs cultural appropriate activities and engages with many of the non-statutory organisations on behalf of Stevenage World Forum.
Peggy uses her local networks to gain a good understanding of the support that is available and also to help other groups access the support provided by Stevenage World Forum, this is invaluable as it is so important that Stevenage World Forum meet those hard to reachmembers and communities. Through this engagement she is also able to help influence decisions that are made that affect local resident.
Elaine was born in Stevenage to Irish parents who had immigrated to the town for work. She attended St John Southworth Catholic Primary School and then went to St Angela’s Catholic School. She began her career in Insurance and then moved into Human Resources. In 2009 she became a Trustee of Stevenage World Form focusing on cultural integration and sustainability. She also works at the Irish Network Stevenage, which is a member of the Stevenage World Forum based at the Sherma Batson Centre. This is a local charity supporting all older people in Stevenage through social engagement and home support. Through this role Elaine has obtained key skills in areas such as funding diversification, marketing, volunteer management and adult safeguarding amongst many others.
Elaine is passionate about equality and the rights of minority groups, with this in mind she became a Stevenage Borough Councillor from 2014 to 2018 where she focused much of her time working to help improve the support to local communities and the more vulnerable residents. Working closely with statutory and non-statutory organisations Elaine has been able to help address some key concerns of local residents including poor housing, anti-social behaviour and the impact of austerity.
Through her role as a Trustee at Stevenage World Forum Elaine has worked hard to increase the support provided to minority groups by helping to arrange cultural awareness and engagement events, support new and aspiring charitable organisations and represent the Stevenage World Forum at local stakeholder events.
Juddy was born in Uganda and migrated to the UK (Stevenage) in 2002. She worked for the Stevenage World forum as an office coordinator for three years and this led to her passion to support my community integrate.
Juddy became a trustee in 2012 with an ambition to ensure more participation in community engagement from the African community.
Juddy comes with vast experience, around community engagement, strategy , project delivery and capacity building. She has a vast knowledge about African cultures and experience as migrants being an African migrant herself .
Juddy strongly believes by sharing our experiences , that we are able empower each other and mitigate any common concerns .
The Stevenage World forum is a voice for all the ethnic minority on various issues in and around Stevenage, Juddy would like to say, ‘so don’t suffer in isolation , if we can’t help you we surely know someone who can.’
Nisa was born in Cape Town, South Africa and migrated to Stevenage in 2005. Nisa started volunteering at the Cardiology Department at Lister Hospital, Spectrum and the Women Resource Centre as she wanted to feel more inclusive and part of the community. Nisa believes that promoting community cohesion is eliminating discrimination, promoting equality and fostering good relations amongst community groups.
Nisa worked as an Office Coordinator for the Stevenage World Forum from 2007 to 2009 and co-delivered a business workshop sponsored by Exemplas, to help women start their own business. She joined the NHS Mental Health Service in 2009 and qualified as a psychodynamic counsellor in 2020.
In South Africa, Nisa worked in a bank for fifteen years living a fast-paced life and volunteered at a local radio station, hosting community and business interviews. Nisa also volunteered her time at a local charity, helping the elderly to read and write.
Over time, she found that she wanted to do something more meaningful and help people in a deeper way. Nisa decided to follow her heart and enrolled in a bereavement training course in Hertfordshire, with Cruse Bereavement Care UK. A few years later, she realised that truly supporting the community, required upskilling and understanding their emotional and mental worlds. Nisa embarked on an extremely personal journey within herself, during which she learned much about the human psyche, training at the University of Hertfordshire and the Counselling Foundation to become a qualified psychodynamic counsellor.
She always had a passion for listening to people and guiding them to live more meaningful lives, free from emotional turmoil and pain, and continue to expand her knowledge to this day, to provide the best possible service to the community.
It is with a heavy heart from all the Trustees to report the passing of our Founder Cllr Sherma Batson, MBE, DL, CC in early January 2017. Her sudden passing at the age of 59, was and continues to be a shock to the communities she served with such energy, heart, passion and commitment. She was always “there” no matter what time of day or night for the people across the cultures and topics and issues.
She remains in our hearts and minds and in July 2017, the Together Centre was renamed Sherma Batson Centre. This centre and SWF are part of her legacy to the people in Stevenage and Stevenage Borough Council have posthumously conferred the Freedom of Stevenage on Sherma.
She worked tirelessly for all of us but with good humour and strong determination to make a difference and resolve problems. She was a terrific role model and there are many people, especially women, who were and are inspired by her to do things for themselves.