Val Huxley has announced she is stepping down as CEO of People against Poverty after 18 years to start a new role in the charity. In partnership with her husband Bill, they have grown the charities activities in all six international countries of operation, Romania, India, Nepal, Haiti, Malawi and Tanzania and the UK. Val takes a well-earned rest from operational and executive duties and will undertake a newly created role as part time Mission Director-People against Poverty.
The trustees will start the recruitment for a new Head of Charity, who will head the small team and continue building its life-saving work and further developing the Business against Poverty membership community. Bill Huxley will remain as a board director –trustee of People against Poverty.
The charity will continue to build on its mission-led values going forward, with the aim of thousands more lives being touched and changed for the better over the years to come. Val is very much looking forward to beginning this new stage in her life as mission director, along with Bill supporting as they focus more on where their hearts have always been, working with the poor and marginalised developing relationships and programmes with their mission partners.
Chair of Trustees, Paul Van Haven said, “Val’s contribution to the charity has been exceptional many lives have been changed by her dedication to her humanitarian work. We are delighted that under a new phase of the charity’s development Val will be able to dedicate all of her working time and skills to the front line mission and enjoying semi-retirement spending more time with her grandchildren.
Under her leadership, Val Huxley developed the Child Sponsorship programme providing children living in absolute poverty with the knowledge that each month they would be receiving food, clothing and medicines. Educational programmes have developed, and many young adults have been able to access further education training as teachers, nurses and other occupational roles. Communities are now able to drink fresh clean water rather than the contaminated water in their villages in India through the Borewell programme which provides whole communities with fresh running water and more recently introduced the Vocational Skills for the Vulnerable in Malawi – enabling young adults with no educational background to train in tailoring, finishing with the opportunity to start their own business in their own communities. In the UK the charity works with local referral agencies i.e. Wiltshire Council and local foodbanks, doctor’s surgeries and other charities who refer families to the Dignity Project which provides white goods to families facing crisis times to avoid taking out costly bank loans. Together with her husband Bill Huxley, founder of Business against Poverty, the movement developed and now has around 80 members who are making a positive difference to society through their businesses.
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