Vanessa is an independent analyst, strategist and advisor on rights and accountability. Her experience is richly wide-ranging, from living in South Asia and working on primary and reproductive health, to program work on education, emergency relief and corporate accountability, to heading the Economic Policy Unit at Save the Children UK.

At the Revenue Watch Institute (now Natural Resources Governance Institute), she worked to make oil, gas and mining deals work in the public interest across the world – first as Director of Capacity Building supporting local accountability organisations, and then as Director of Global Advocacy for international disclosure standards. Next, she ran the Transparency and Accountability Initiative from 2012-2015, strengthening global links and learning between civil society and civic tech actors, researchers and funders across multiple sectors.

After a fantastic year engaging her right-brain as an art student, now she is back working on the ‘red thread’ that has run through all her work to date – supporting ‘ordinary’ people to get their voices heard, especially those who are least often listened to. She is currently working on projects related to slavery and the rights of persons with disabilities.

Director of the Transparency and Accountability Initiative. Her work has centred on strengthening accountability and governance, in areas including economic policy and poverty reduction, the extractive sector, health services and children’s rights. Vanessa spent four years living in South Asia, working with communities, donors and governments. She joined Save the Children UK, developing organisational strategy, coordinating advocacy and finally