WaterAid announces new Policy and Campaigns Director
International charity WaterAid is pleased to announce the appointment of Margaret Batty to the post of Policy and Campaigns Director. Margaret takes over from Stephen Turner who retires after 17 years with the International Development charity.
Margaret Batty, WaterAid’s Policy and Campaigns Director commented: “I am extremely excited to be taking up the role of Policy and Campaigns Director. WaterAid does a tremendous practical job in delivering water and sanitation to over a million people every year, our policy challenge is to help achieve a huge step change, so that the billions of people lacking water and sanitation get access to these crucial services.
“My appointment to WaterAid has come at a very interesting time as the UN has declared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation. There is a lot of work to do to get governments around the world to address the global crisis that claims the lives of 5,000 children every day.
“I am really enthusiastic about the challenges ahead and the opportunity to contribute to such vital, but yet much neglected, areas of international development.“Margaret’s career has focused on promoting diversity, social inclusion and non-discrimination at an international level. She has over twenty years professional experience working in an international capacity for the voluntary sector, including Age Concern, local government, central government, EU institutions and the United Nations.
Her wide-ranging experience has ranged from working for local government, developing a European strategy for Surrey County Council to leading the UK Government’s international policy team on women and equality, which involved heading up the UK delegation to the United Nations Commission on Women and working directly with Iraqi women in Baghdad.
After 11 years with the Civil Service, Margaret leaves a post with the Cabinet Office briefing the Prime Minister on International policies, negotiations, campaigns and high level meetings.
