Trustees
The board is committed to ensuring that our governance arrangements are effective and relevant. Trustees are selected for their expertise, and all give their time and energy for free to Hackney Migrant Centre.
Augusta Itua
Chair
Augusta, a children’s rights lawyer with over a decade in the legal charity sector, currently serves as the Interim Co-Chair of HMC, demonstrating leadership and dedication to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). She leads the development of HMC’s EDI Action Plan, collaborating closely with the CEO and incorporating essential input from staff. Augusta’s commitment to access to justice is evident through her extensive work in the legal advice sector. With her lived migration experiences, she brings unique insights into board discussions.
Roger Besong
Co – Secretary
Roger, a volunteer manager with over a decade of experience working in the charity sector, currently serves as HMC’s safeguarding trustee. He has lived experience of the UK’s hostile immigration policies. Since arriving in the UK from Cameroon in 2008, he gained his professional experience through volunteering, giving him unique skills in all areas and capacities of charity work. He is enthusiastic about; mental health and wellbeing, developing potentials, advocacy, and campaigning. He has developed community organisations across the UK. He has lived in Hackney since 2015 and has been involved with HMC about the same amount of time as a volunteer and a beneficiary.
Kathryn Busby
Treasurer
Kathryn is a charity finance and governance specialist. After studying for an LL.M in Human Rights & Civil Liberties, she began her career fundraising for Shelter and Campaign Against Arms Trade, before moving into finance and operations management. Kathryn was a founding co-director of The Equality Trust, has held senior roles in The Access Project and the Peace Pledge Union, and is currently leading on finance and operations for Spotlight on Corruption. Kathryn has lived in East London for more than a decade and joined the Board of Hackney Migrant Centre as Treasurer in 2024.
Kathy Meade
Trustee
Kathy is a retired solicitor specialising in housing and a volunteer housing advocate for Hackney Migrant Centre. Until 2021, she was Professional Support Lawyer for Shelter; she has also worked in Law Centres and for Terrence Higgins Trust. She was Social Welfare Lawyer of the Year in 2010. Kathy has lived in Hackney for 40 years and as well as her work for HMC is a volunteer and Board Member for Hackney Night Shelter. She has been a trustee of Hackney Migrant Centre since 2018.
Hannah McConnachie
Trustee
Hannah is an in-house commercial solicitor, currently General Counsel for a mission-driven climate change consultancy. A passionate advocate for refugee and migrant rights, she worked for a not-for-profit legal advice service in Australia representing refugees and migrants before moving to London. Hannah has lived in Hackney for over 5 years and began volunteering at Hackney Migrant Centre in 2017. She acted as Chair of the trustee board from 2021-2023.
Saraf Anan
Trustee
Saraf has a background in economics and has worked in financial services since 2011. As an immigrant from Bangladesh, moving to Ireland as a young child, Saraf is passionate about migrant rights. She brings strategic development, financial analysis and project management experience to the board of trustees. She lived in Hackney for over five years and has volunteered with several charities in the area. Saraf is Vice-Chair of the trustee board and has been a trustee of Hackney Migrant Centre since 2022.
Elizabeth Kolawole Johnson
Trustee
Elizabeth’s day job is at the charity Migrateful, where she supports asylum seekers refugees and other vulnerable migrants. Her lived experience of the hostile immigration policies gives her deep insight into the challenges facing many migrants in the UK. Before she left her country, Nigeria, she gained a Master’s degree in clinical psychology. Elizabeth joined the board of trustees in 2019 having previously been a beneficiary of the services of Hackney Migrant Centre.
Henna Alicia Charania
Trustee
Henna has a background in developing data collection systems, measuring impact and implementing monitoring and evaluation practices. She has worked for various non-profit organisations in the UK and beyond, with a focus on disaster relief, gender-based violence, racial equality and migrant support. As a child of refugees, she has an emotional connection to the work carried out at Hackney Migrant Centre, where she first started her journey as a volunteer, returning many years later to join as a trustee in 2024.
Abdullahi Yussuf
Young Trustee
Abdullahi Yussuf is a Human Rights Masters student with scholarship at LSE. He holds a BA in social anthropology from SOAS and was awarded a scholarship. He has served as a producer at Royal Albert Hall, where he produced an event called Licence To DV8. He volunteers at Coram; We Belong and has been with HMC since 2021. His advocacy experience includes being on the IntoUniversity advisory panel and as a former Hackney Young Speaker and Youth Parliament member. As a person living with the physical disability of Cerebral Palsy (left hemiplegia), he importantly also centres his experience around this.
Staff
Megan
Operations Manager
Megan oversees the day-to-day activities within the organisation, ensuring smooth and efficient processes across various departments and resolving operational challenges.
Sian
Immigration Manager
Sian is a Solicitor. She supervises and manages HMC’s in-house legal capacity to complete immigration support to the migrants who access our services.
Charity
Fundraising Officer
Charity looks after grant applications and maintains relationships with donors.
Donya
Housing and Destitution Caseworker
Donya provides advice on welfare and housing issues to migrants during the Wednesday drop-in session and manages a caseload of visitors to help bring them out of destitution and into secure living environments.
Rose
Housing and Destitution Caseworker
Rose provides advice on welfare and housing issues to migrants during the Wednesday drop-in session and manages a caseload of visitors to help bring them out of destitution and into secure living environments.
Laura
Volunteer and Participation Manager
Laura supports HMC’s 50+ people volunteer team. She oversees volunteer recruitment, induction and ongoing support support. Laura also supports the engagement of people with lived experience at HMC and ensures collaboration between all members of the HMC community.
Lizzie
Access to Justice Coordinator
Lizzie provides advice and casework to people who have had initial immigration advice provided at our weekly advice session. The majority of her work focuses on long-residence applications.
Volunteers
We have over 50 volunteers at any one time supporting the advice service. Many of them are former visitors who remain part of the HMC community. It wouldn’t be possible to run our service without their help and support – from welcoming visitors to cooking lunch, collecting donations of food, and carrying out a range of casework tasks to help visitors access services and the support they need – volunteers are an integral part of who we are.