Leon Ward

Leon Ward is a 21-year-old law student. He is currently a Trustee of Plan UK, a £60m child-centred development organisation and a delegate to Plan International's global governing assembly which is responsible for the federation’s €600m. In addition, he is also a Trustee of Interact Worldwide, an adolescent sexual reproductive health organisation. He previously served as a trustee of Leap Confronting Conflict, a charity renowned for its gangs and violence reduction work. He was appointed vice-chair of the governance sub-committee and led the process for the recruitment of new trustees. His experience pans eight years and includes work with government, charities and international organisations including the UN and EU. He was also a member of the DfID youth working group. Leon was the youngest person nationally to be co-opted onto two local authority select committees charged with investigating the performance of statutory Child, Adolescent Mental Health Services providers, as well as Home to School, Home to College transport, which established cross-party agreements and working partnerships. Subsequently, he served as a co-opted member of the statutory Children and Young People's Scrutiny Panel for two years. He has previous experience of working with several of the UK’s largest charities covering a wide range of topics including sexual health, education, development, the environment, transport, young offenders and participation. More recently Leon has appeared at numerous events as a key note speaker covering a wide range of strategic issues that face the charity sector. In April 2013 Leon gave evidence to a Parliamentary Inquiry titled 'Growing Giving'. He is currently an Ambassador for 'Young Charity Trustees' and a regular blogger for Third Sector - the national charity magazine - blogging on a variety of strategic issues that the charity sector faces. His blog is available at http://bit.ly/Sz5VYf