Matthew Hanning

I love working alongside, and in partnership with, people making change happen in their lives and their communities. With over 25 years experience as a development professional, my current role covers programme strategy, policy and oversight of relationships with institutional and other partners. Since my first role as a volunteer at a Jordanian civil society organisation, I’ve had a passion for, and success in, bringing different organisations and actors together with shared vision of truly inclusive development for the rights of people most marginalised by society. This has gone hand in hand with my demonstrated achievements in strategic planning, programme and budget management, grant-writing, organisational development and human resource management. With hands-on experience living and working with disabled and Deaf people, including family members with severe hearing impairment and psychosocial disabilities, I’ve seen first-hand the barriers to inclusion and accessibility and am always motivated by seeing how they can be overcome through tenacity and creativity. I thrive in cross-cultural environments, in understanding what makes other people tick, forging strong teams and building capacity of people and organisations to achieve their potential. My vocation is shared by my wife, an educator of deafblind children. We also share a passion for engaging in local communities wherever we live, growing genuine and authentic relationships at the same time as having fun and definitely not taking ourselves too seriously.