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As a network dedicated to greater accountability in the aid sector, effective governance is critical. The CHS Alliance Board brings together a diverse and talented set of individuals who play a critical role in overseeing the work of the Alliance, ensuring strong governance and providing expertise to support our mission.

Thank you to our members for their thoughtful consideration of the candidates and active participation in the voting process. In 2026, six seats were open for election: four full member representatives and two independent Board members with lived experience of humanitarian assistance.

We are delighted to welcome six outstanding members to the CHS Alliance Governing Board:

• Lubna Alkanawati – Independent Board Member (Lived Experience)
• Peter Kidi Utong – Independent Board Member (Lived Experience)
• Ugochi Cynthia Abazie Abang, LM International– Full Member Representative
• Mansoor Ahmed, FRDP – Full Member Representative
• Lina Alhaj, War Child Alliance – Full Member Representative
• Carly Sheehan, Oxfam International – Full Member Representative (re-elected)

Their collective expertise, leadership and lived experience will strengthen our oversight, governance and commitment to the Core Humanitarian Standard.

Our sincere thanks to all candidates, who each demonstrated a strong commitment to accountability, quality and people-centred humanitarian action.

For this election, the Board was particularly looking for expertise and experience in humanitarian policy, finance, human resources, complaints, investigations and safeguarding, as well as leadership of humanitarian programming.

We look forward to working with our Board members as they join us to further strengthen the CHS Alliance’s leadership. The newly elected candidates will officially join the Board at our upcoming meeting in June to begin their three-year terms.

Independent Board Members

Two independent Board members have been appointed, with lived experience of humanitarian assistance, helping to ensure that the perspectives of people affected by crisis remain central to CHS Alliance governance.

Lubna Alkanawati, Independent Board Member (Lived Experience)

Lubna is a distinguished feminist leader and human rights defender with over a decade of experience advancing justice, political participation, and women’s rights across Syria and the diaspora. As the Executive Director of Women Now for Development (WND)—the pioneering organization founded and led by Syrian women—she has transformed grassroots activism into a powerful force for systemic change. A witness to the 2013 Eastern Ghouta chemical attacks, Lubna has turned lived experience into a powerful pursuit of accountability.

Lubna says: ” am motivated by the conviction that humanitarian action must be locally led and gender-transformative. My experience as a survivor and an Executive Director at Women Now for Development has shown me that accountability often fails at the intersection of conflict and gender. I want to bring a Syrian feminist perspective to the Board to help the Alliance deepen its impact in fragile contexts. I am driven to ensure the CHS is accessible to grassroots actors and that the voices of those directly affected by crises are central to the Alliance’s strategic decisions, fostering a more equitable global humanitarian system.”

Peter Kidi Utong, Independent Board Member (Lived Experience)

Peter Kidi Utong is a poet, writer, and refugee advocate from Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. Having lived his entire life in Kakuma as a refugee, Peter brings a deeply personal perspective shaped by firsthand experience of humanitarian assistance. Through poetry and writing, he documents and speaks out against injustices faced by refugees, including food cuts, unequal aid distribution, protests, police violence, and the ongoing mental health crisis in the camp.

Peter says, “I have been deeply engaged in community-level advocacy. I speak on behalf of those who are silenced by fear of deportation or intimidation. These are not abstract statistics for me they are my daily reality. I bring to the CHS Alliance Board lived experience, creativity, and a strong commitment to accountability. I know what it means when humanitarian standards are not applied, when communities are excluded from decision-making, and when aid policies ignore the human cost. I want to contribute this perspective so that humanitarian systems are shaped not only by policy-makers, but also by the voices of those they affect.”

Full Member Representatives

Four new Board members were elected from within the CHS Alliance Membership.

Ugochi Cynthia Abazie Abang, LM International– Full Member Representative

Cynthia is a Human Rights lawyer and seasoned humanitarian and development practitioner with more than fourteen years of experience across Nigeria, Australia, and diverse global humanitarian contexts. She currently serves as the Global Programme Manager for Humanitarian Affairs at LM International.

Cynthia says, “As a human rights lawyer with extensive field experience, I bring a rights-based and principled approach to humanitarian action, grounded in a strong commitment to safeguarding, including PSEAH, and accountability to affected populations. My professional journey, shaped by working across diverse humanitarian contexts and by my Nigerian background, drives my commitment to advancing localisation and ensuring that actors from crisis-affected settings are meaningfully represented in global decision-making spaces. I believe deeply in elevating perspectives that are often underrepresented and in bridging the gap between policy and practice.”

• Mansoor Ahmed, FRDP – Full Member Representative
• Mansoor has over two decades of experience in humanitarian and development leadership across multiple international and national organizations. His career includes serving in senior management roles in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Ukraine and he most recently became Executive Director at Fast Rural Development Program (FRDP).

Mansoor says ,”The humanitarian space is shrinking, states and Non-State Actors are [putting on] more restrictions and increased numbers of emergencies are demanding locally led action. CHS Alliance has a major role in […] quality and accountable action. I have observed persistent challenges and systemic disparities in the understanding of the humanitarian ecosystem, along with unequal access to resources. […] Being on the Board will bring the voices of all to the forum.”

Lina Alhaj, War Child Alliance – Full Member Representative

Lina is an accountability, participation, and quality specialist with extensive experience strengthening people-centred, accountable, and inclusive practice in humanitarian and development contexts. She has supported teams, partners, and communities to translate CHS commitments into practical systems, behaviours, and decisions. Lina is currently Global Accountability and Participation Advisor at War Child Alliance.

Lina says, “My field experience has taught me one thing clearly: the gap between what the Core Humanitarian Standard commits to and what communities actually experience is not simply a technical issue. Joining the CHS Alliance Board I can bring that field-rooted perspective to its  strategic work….The Alliance’s mission remains deeply relevant as the sector seeks to strengthen trust with communities and demonstrate the integrity and impact of humanitarian action.”

Carly Sheehan, Oxfam International – Full Member Representative

Carly has worked across the humanitarian sector since 2005, with experience spanning NGOs and UN agencies in more than 20 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Pacific. She has been serving as Vice Chair of CHS Alliance Board and has now been re-elected.

Carly says : “With over 300 members in the Alliance, we can work together as a collective movement to ensure that aid is shaped by, and truly accountable to, people and communities in situations of crisis and vulnerability….I am proud to have helped shepherd the Alliance’s new Strategy through its development and endorsement by the General Assembly, and the opportunity to continue playing a role on a Board that steers such a diverse movement is energizing. I look forward to contributing to shared momentum, fostering collaboration, and amplifying voices, especially those of local and national actors whose leadership is essential for accountability.”

Please join us in congratulating our newest Board members as they begin their new roles.

See full details of our Governing Board here.