Co-chairs

Introducing Yetneberesh and Liz.

We are excited to announce our new Co-Chairs of our board of trustees, Liz Sayce and Yetneberesh Nigussie Molla. They will work together to lead our board and guide ADD in our work for disability justice.

With the spirit of amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities, I am delighted to join the ADD International board of directors as a co-chair to be part of the exciting and courageous journey of the organization towards a participatory grant-making.
Yetneberesh

Liz and Yetneberesh replace Deborah Botwood-Smith and Matt Jackson, outgoing Co-Chairs, who we thank.

ADD is committed to Co-Leadership for the lifetime of our new strategic framework. We are in a period of transformation from a traditional and colonial model of working with traditional hierarchies, into one that is different and new. Co-Leadership enables us to have much better complex skill sets, experiences and backgrounds at CEO level than we would ever find in one person. Leadership at both the CEO and Chair roles can be tough and time consuming. Having a sounding board, critical friend and co-conspirator makes a real difference to the quality and timeliness of the work.

Liz, an ADD International trustee stands in an office room, smiling to camera, wearing a patterned top and a black suit jacket

I’m really excited about taking on the role of Co-Chair of ADD and working jointly to help realise ADD’s transformative strategy for disability justice. ADD’s co-leadership approach is designed to help shift power to the countries in Asia and Africa where we work and, within those countries, to channel resources to disabled activists, who know what’s needed and how to make change happen.
Liz Sayce, incoming Co-Chair

We believe that with Co-Leadership comes the potential to make better leadership decisions. It means that collaboration and partnership run through the heart of the organisation – visibly demonstrating these values to those
who might work with us. By extending this to both our Chairs and our CEOs we believe we ensure that we have the right breadth and depth of skills to lead the bold changes that ADD International is making.

Yetneberesh Nigussie Molla.

Yetneberesh Nigussie Molla is an Ethiopian lawyer with a disability who made significant impact in reducing discrimination towards persons with disabilities.

Yetneberesh co-founded the Ethiopian center for Disability and Development (ECDD) a prominent local organization advocating for disability inclusion in development in 2005 and served as the executive director until 2015.

In 2016 Yetneberesh joined Light for the World, an international NGO based in Austria, Vienna and provided professional and technical support on the human rights of persons with disabilities. In 2019, she co-founded the Ethiopian Lawyers with Disabilities Association (ELDA) the first professional association of persons with disabilities in the country and served as the first president of the association until March 2023.

Before joining UNICEF ESARO as a program specialist of children with disabilities in May 2021, Yetneberesh was serving as the senior manager of the Global Action on Disability (GLAD) network. Yetneberesh is a joint winner of the Rights Livelihood Award 2017 and the Spirit of Hellen Keller award 2018. The World Economic Forum recognized her as one of the most influential young Global Leaders in 2020.

Yetneberesh is a new member of the ADD board.

Liz Sayce.

Liz Sayce is a visiting Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics and was Chief Executive of Disability Rights UK (and its legacy charity Radar) from 2007-2017, where she led work for equal participation for all, through programmes on independent living, career opportunities and shifts in cultural attitudes and behaviour.

Liz has been Vice Chair of the UK Social Security Advisory Committee and a member of the Disability Advisory Committee of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

She chaired the Commission for Equality in Mental Health, hosted by the Centre for Mental Health (2018-21). Previous roles include Director of Policy and Communications at the Disability Rights Commission and Policy Director of Mind. She has published widely on disability rights and mental health including a book, From Psychiatric Patient to Citizen (revised edition 2016). She is currently a non-executive board member of the North Central London Integrated Care Board and a Trustee of the Furzedown Project, led by and for older people.

Liz has been an ADD Trustee since 2021.