The V4CE team

Vandna Gohil
Director
020 7843 6132

Vandna joined Voice4Change England in April 2007 as Director and drives the national policy body to strengthen the Black and Minority Ethnic Third Sector as a positive force for change to build a thriving future.

Vandna has over 20 year’s experience of working with the Third Sector. Before joining V4CE, she was with Futurebuilders England for 3 years as the Learning & Development Manager, and worked for the Community Fund co-ordinating policy, communications, research and development work across England for 7 years. She has been on secondments at the Home Office‘s Civil Renewal Unit and NOMS Voluntary Sector Unit and was the Deputy Director of Voluntary Action Leicester for 7 years. She has been involved in a number of black-led and mainstream voluntary organisations locally and nationally. 

Arjumand Kazmi
Head of Policy
020 7843 6129

Arjumand Kazmi became Head of Policy at Voice4Change England in July 2007. 

After five years campaigning for law reforms for the rights of women with NGOs in Pakistan, she came to the UK in 2001 to study for a LLM in Law in Development at the University of Warwick. She returned to Pakistan at the end of her studies and became project manager with a parliamentary capacity-building programme funded by DfID and USAID. In 2005 she was back in the UK working with small Pakistani groups in Nottingham and then later with Voice East Midlands.

Jemma Grieve
Policy & Parliamentary Officer
020 7843 6128

Jemma joined Voice4Change England in October 2008 as the Policy and Research Officer. In this time she has led Voice4Change England’s policy work in areas including the Compact debate, Government’s Race Equality Strategy and Cohesion as well as managing their capacity-building work as part of Capacitybuilders’ National Support Services. She has recently taken the role of Policy & Parliamentary Officer

Jemma has a MSc in Food Policy from City University and has worked in a range of roles in the third sector, most recently as the Early Years and Transition Policy Officer at Youth Music. Before this she worked at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations both in the Policy and Research Teams with a particular focus on rural third sector organisations. She has also worked at CPRE South Yorkshire to produce the first local food directory for South Yorkshire and started her career as a door to door fundraiser for Friends of the Peak District. 

Outside of work Jemma is a keen choral singing and was a trustee for the Hackney Singers from 2007 to 2009. She also trains in the martial art Choi Kwang Do and enjoys growing as many vegetables as possible.

Nandini Das
Networks & Communications Officer
020 7843 6131

Nandini Das joined Voice4Change England in September 2009. Nandini will help strengthen relations between infrastructure organisations within the BME Third Sector by developing networks, promoting collaborative working and creating mentorship programmes. She will also build relationships with key mainstream organisations to ensure BME needs can be met through generic services. Additionally, she will lead on V4CE’s communications and subscribers work.

Nandini Das has a MA in English Literature from Jadavpur University and a MSc in Social Anthropology from LSE. She has worked as Features Editor at the Times of India, Research Assistant at the School for Women’s Studies in India and was partner in the creative services company, the Creative Commune. Most recently, she helped manage the NSPCC’s large volunteer network as Volunteer Development Project Manager. 

Ravi Chauhan
BME Compact Officer
020 7843 6124

Ravi Chauhan joins the Strengthening the Voices of the BME Third Sector project, having worked as Policy Assistant at V4CE since January 2009. As the BME Compact Officer he is responsible for promoting the Compact and relevant guidance and tools amongst both the BME Third Sector and the statutory organisations they work with at a local, regional and national level. Through capacity building and awareness raising he ensures that BME Third Sector organisation have the skills and knowledge to effectively use the Compact. Ravi also works closely with NCVO’s Compact Advocacy Project to refer Compact breaches experienced by BME Third Sector organisations for further advice, help and solutions.

Prior to this he was employed as a Careers Advisor at Leicester College subsequent to completing his Law LLB at Queen Mary, University of London.

Diya Mukarji
Project Support Officer
020 7843 6126

Diya Mukarji will support the team in the delivery of the project, coordinating the tripartite partners (V4CE, BTEG and MENTER) quarterly meetings, preparing paperwork for reporting and tracking performance against milestones.

Diya Mukarji has a BA in Social Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies. She has spent time in India working on women’s grassroots development projects. Later she worked with the Jubilee Debt Campaign and Christian Aid on issues of illegitimate debt, unjust trade systems and ineffective aid policies. She went on to work in Sierra Leone on Human Rights advocacy relating to Girl Child Education, participation in local governance and gender based violence. Most recently she was with the Equality and Human Rights Commission supporting their international team.

Last Updated on 28 May 2010