Executive Committee
and Staff

Executive Committee

Gráinne Begley, Secretary, is a community worker. She has worked in solidarity with communities experiencing social exclusion and disadvantage, extensive experience working with the Traveller Community. She has coordinated an accredited three-year Primary Health Care Training Course for women Travellers, within which she integrated development education She is the Co-ordinator of a Family Resource Centre in Tallaght.

Kate Byron works for Comhlámh. She has extensive experience in policy and advocacy work in relation to gender and development, with a particular focus on women workers’ rights. She has worked with Women Working Worldwide, a UK based organisation which works with an international network of women workers in the flower industry. Kate has facilitated workshops on advocacy and solidarity at Banúlacht conferences, and given presentations on Women Workers’ Rights: Local and Global Connections as part of Banúlacht’s 2008 Economic Literacy Courses and at the 2008 AGM.

Niamh Farren, Chair, is Communications Officer with Aontas, the Irish National Association of Adult Education, and has extensive experience in community development. Niamh has an MA in Communications and Cultural Studies in DCU. She has experience of exchange projects with Ghana through community radio, and of all aspects of media training. She has previously worked with the Media Co-op/ NEAR fm and is currently a member of the Board of Dublin Community Television.

Nyamwenda Massamba is originally from North-Tanzania, Mara region. She worked in Tanzania as a community development officer (both Dar-es-Salaam and the Mara region). She is currently working with An Cosán in Tallaght where she coordinates a programme for young mothers from ethnic minority groups.

Nessa Ní Chasaide is the co-ordinator of Debt and Development Coalition Ireland, an organisation that fights for debt cancellation for poor countries and the disempowerment of international financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Nessa was Dóchas coordinator of the Make Poverty History Campaign; she has worked on Trócaire's development education programme and has been active in the social justice movement in Ireland and abroad for over a decade.

Astrid Pérez Piñán is an activist from Puerto Rico working in development and intercultural education. She has been active in formulating, co-writing and facilitating teacher training and training of trainers' courses at both the non-formal and post graduate, university levels. She is also a member of the National Council of the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA). Astrid has done post graduate studies in Development Education and has a Masters Degree in International Peace Studies. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Gender and Development with focus on the Aid Effectiveness Agenda.

Sheila Zietsman, Vice-chair, was born in Zimbabwe. She studied journalism in South Africa and worked briefly on Daily Dispatch - the paper edited by Donald Woods - a year or so after Steve Biko was murdered by the South African authorities. She has worked in Britain with homeless people, refugees and the emergent HIV/AIDS population in London. She has also worked on an education and literacy development programme in southern Sudan from where she was evacuated as a combination of civil unrest and drought took hold. She has been working in Ireland as a secondary school teacher for the last 16 years.

Staff team

Eileen Smith, Coordinator
Eileen’s background is in feminist economics, and she has a long track record in community development and feminist activism. She has been the Coordinator of Banúlacht since 1996, and has worked on all aspects of the Banúlacht work programme as a trainer and manager.

Maeve Taylor, Policy and Training Project Leader
Maeve has worked for Banúlacht since 1999, with responsibility for implementing education programmes with women’s networks and for the trade policy aspects of the programme. She is the author of Banúlacht’s 2003 publication, Looking at the Economy through Women’s Eyes: A Facilitator’s Guide to Economic Literacy. She has a masters degree in human rights law.