We are delighted to announce the appointment of our new Northern Ireland programme co-optees, Helena Macormac, Sipho Sibanda and Anne Molloy, who will advise on our grant-making.
Each brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in areas such as equality and education, humanitarian and peacebuilding leadership, and social justice for minoritised communities.
Our Northern Ireland programme supports those whose work to promote peace, equality, inclusion and human rights contributes to the ongoing transformation of the Northern Ireland conflict.
Helena Macormac has significant experience working across Northern Ireland and the UK on equality, education and human rights. A committed trade unionist, she is deputy general secretary of the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS). She is also a former Northern Ireland Human Rights Commissioner and has held senior roles with the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM).
Helena brings expertise in governance and policy development, with a track record of working alongside civil society organisations, statutory bodies and grassroots groups on issues including anti-racism, gender equality, education rights and peacebuilding. She has contributed evidence to parliamentary committees, engaged with UN treaty bodies, and supported organisations to develop rights-based approaches to advocacy.
Her work reflects a deep understanding of Northern Ireland’s political and social context and a commitment to advancing inclusion, equality and human rights.
Having moved to Northern Ireland over a decade ago, Sipho Sibanda has dedicated much of her work to supporting minoritised communities and advancing social justice. With a background in social policy, grassroots activism, and social housing, she committed to building more inclusive and equitable communities.
Sipho is a fellow of the Social Change Initiative and currently convener for the Black Activists Leadership Group which works to strengthen leadership within the ethnic minority community, foster solidarity, and support collective action for positive social change.
Anne Molloy was part of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) team for Northern Ireland, from January 2014 until December 2024. Initially engaged as a programme officer, she took on the role of managing the ICRC’s Community Based Protection Programme in 2016 and its successor, Frontline Humanitarian Negotiators Network (FHNN) which she established and coordinated. Anne was appointed head of office in January 2019. Anne remains closely involved with the FHNN through the Belfast unemployed Resource Centre (BURC) which now co-ordinates the network, and which Anne is a board member of.
Between 2004 and 2014, Anne was regional development coordinator for county Donegal with Pobal (pobal.ie), which administers and manages government and EU funding to address disadvantage and support social inclusion, where she continued engagement in Northern Ireland and participated in negotiations which led to the ceasefire and decommissioning of one of the armed groups in 2009/2010, and the August 2010 agreement between the prison service at Maghaberry and republican detainees.
Anne’s career started with and was heavily influenced by her experience as a volunteer with Concern in Sudan 1985-87, during the peak of the famine and conflicts in Sudan and the Horn of Africa. After a few years abroad teaching Anne worked in various roles with the NI Cooperative Development Agency/Social Economy Agency (1990-2014), as agency manager for her final two years. Her work involved supporting the most marginalised and disenfranchised communities to establish their own collective forms of economy – much of her work focused within loyalist communities and armed groups.
She holds a Masters in Social Policy Planning and Research. As well as being an accredited trainer, she holds a certificate as an Advanced Professional Negotiation from CCHN.