Councillor Stephanie Eaton speak to UpRisers about being a councillor
UpRisers took part in a learning session on 3 December 2009 to examine a range of different opportunities for public leadership and service.
During a series of roundtable discussions, UpRisers questioned a number of public leaders about their roles. Cllr Stephanie Eaton, Leader of the Liberal Democrat group of Tower Hamlets councillors spoke about her work representing constituents in the Town Hall; and UpRising graduate Seye Odukogbe described his enjoyment of being a governor at Sarah Bonnell School in Stratford, Newham.
The participants also heard from UpRising graduates Hollie Ridley and Ahmed Shazad. Hollie Ridley spoke about her volunteering at Abbey Children’s Centre and Ahmed Shazad explained his roles as a trustee of Student Action for Refugees and as a member of the Big Lottery Fund’s awarding panel for myplace.
The session, held at Oxford House, Bethnal Green, was facilitated entirely by a group of UpRisers. Tahera Begum, Komal Chokski, Aude Loreau, Farah Mohammoud, Susannah Ngoke and Charles Onyeacholem took responsibility for running the learning session from beginning to end – and did a fantastic job!
Click here to view photos of the learning session.
Biographies of speakers
Stephanie Eaton leads the Liberal Democrat group of councillors on Tower Hamlets Council. Stephanie has argued passionately for increased respite care for the families of disabled children, improvements in youth justice, and greater provision of Mother tongue and English language and adult education classes. Outside of her political role, Stephanie is an academic criminologist.
Stephanie spoke about what being a councillor involves, the route to becoming a councillor and ways of getting involved in political parties.
Click here for more information about Stephanie Eaton.
Seye Odukogbe
Seye Odukogbe is a school governor at Sarah Bonnell School in Stratford, Newham. He spoke about his experience of being a school governor, and how to become a school governor.
Seye is an UpRising graduate and during his time on the programme worked with fellow graduate Kalve Zaiga to organise a one day event, “Stay Focus” at the University of East London in June 2009. The event brought AS level students together from three sixth form colleges in East London to increase awareness of career opportunities in the financial services sector. The event involved presentations from KPMG, Credit Suisse, Thomson Reuters and Common Purpose; a networking lunch; and a personal development plan workshop.
Hollie Ridley
Hollie Ridley is an UpRising graduate and student studying humanities at Brighton University. She is passionate about improving opportunities for young people in Barking and Dagenham.
Hollie has volunteered at Abbey Children’s Centre in Barking & Dagenham. She spoke about her experience of volunteering and opportunities to get involved volunteering with young people in Barking & Dagenham.
Hollie was recently interviewed about social mobility on flagship BBC Radio 4 programme Broadcasting House, which has a listenership of 2 million people.
Click here to listen to Hollie on Radio 4.
Ahmed Shazad
Ahmed Shazad was a member of the Big Lottery Fund’s awarding panel for myplace – a million capital fund for youth centres. He recently took part in vetting and awarding funds totalling £180 million to 41 projects across the country.
Ahmed is also a trustee of Student Action for Refugees, a national network of student groups working to improve the lives of refugees in the UK.
Ahmed spoke at the learning session about trusteeship and membership of funding committees.
Ahmed is a graduate of UpRising and took part in the UpRising Raleigh 2009 India Expedition, helping plant mango trees at a new sustainable agriculture project in Huskuradi village, Mysore.
