Zara is a Clinical Psychologist and works with adults with mental health difficulties. She has a strong interest in international development projects especially working with women, children and increasing access to education. She is the GCT lead for our projects in India and is joint treasurer. Zara became involved with GCT in 2009 and became a Trustee in 2011.
Our Aim
Our aim is to reduce poverty and empower vulnerable people through partnering organisations that implement sustainable grassroots development and environmental projects.
What we do
We support projects at the cutting edge of development, working in partnership with inspiring individuals and institutions at a local level in India, Malawi and Kenya.
Our Founder
The Global Concerns Trust was established in December 1996 in Scotland by Alastair Christie, an inspirational individual who was passionate about development, education, the environment and linking like-minded people around the world. GCT evolved from a concept Alastair had developed over ten years whilst working as a geography teacher in Singapore between 1986-1996.
Sadly, Alastair passed away in June 2012. Even in the last days of his illness, he remained dedicated to the work of Global Concerns. Whilst Alastair will be sorely missed, the projects he worked so hard on over the years continue to flourish and his legacy endures.
Our Team
Zara Christie
Trustee, joint treasurer and India project lead
Richard Firth
Trustee
Richard is a Workshop Coordinator at Milltown Workshop in Aberdeenshire, and is involved in collecting and refurbishing old tools. Milltown have been sending tools to Malawi through GCT since 2008. Richard has been a Trustee of GCT since 2009. He is also a grandpa.
Emma Duncan
Malawi Project Manager and Trustee
Emma has been involved with GCT since 2008 and has managed our projects in Malawi since 2011. She has worked closely with our partners in Malawi to offer vocational training to adults with disabilities and provide disability mainstream training as part of our Tools and Training for Livelihood Project. She is also a painter, art teacher and mother.
Eileen Henderson
Trustee, joint treasurer
Eileen has retired from teaching craft in primary schools. She travelled to India and South America in the 1970s and is interested in World Cinema. She has been involved with GCT since 2007 and became a Trustee in 2011.
Ian Hay
Trustee
Now retired, Ian has worked widely in Education in Scotland and England, both in secondary schools and through youth work. He worked for YouthLink Scotland, the national youth work agency managing their networks which brought together local authorities and voluntary organisations. Ian became actively involved with GCT in 2020 and joined as a Trustee in 2021.
Brinda Adige
Founder of Global Concerns India
Brinda has a Masters in Social Work from Bangalore University and works with street children. In 1994, she developed the Child Friendly Police Training manual with support from UNICEF. In 1997, she set up India’s first Child Protection Helpline in the Police Commissioner’s Office. Since then, Brinda has been a lead in the field promoting and training others on gender equality, child protection, keeping women and children safe from violence, human trafficking and forced labour, and making school accessible to all children. She works with vulnerable slum communities, facilitating women, youth, children and various government departments assisting marginalised people to access services from the government, especially for victim-survivors of gender based violence.
George Chimpiko
Manager of KODO
George Chimpiko is a retired Telecommunication Engineer and the founder and director of KODO. He has a physical disability of both feet (club foot) that has affected his mobility greatly. With this personal experience, he thought of creating a project that would target disabled persons with mobility challenges, in order to pay back and thank the many people who have assisted him in one-way or another, for him to be what he is today. George started buying and donating mobility aids in 1998 and in 2005 started the Vocational skills training Centre in Salima, to help people with disabilities to live a more self-reliant life. In 2009, GCT and KODO became partners and have worked together ever since to offer vocational training to hundreds of adults with disabilities in Salima.
Lemson Njala
Community Based Rehabilitation Manager
Lemson Njala is Malawi Council for the Handicapped (MACOHA’s) Community Based Rehabilitation Manager and is the in-country manager of our Tools and Training for Livelihood in Malawi project. He started working for MACOHA in 1990. Lemson is passionate about his work and proud that it directly benefits the lives of people with disabilities in Malawi.