Changes in NP Leadership - Letter from Tiffany Easthom
NP supporters, friends and families:
I am writing to you today to share some news. Firstly, in the spirit of embracing the reality that change is the great constant in life, NP is under going changes at the leadership level. After nearly three years, NP’s CEO Doris Mariani, has decided that it is time to take up new challenges in her life, and has moved on from NP. Together we thank Doris for her service and extend our collective best wishes for all of her future endeavours.
Secondly, it is with a great sense of honour to share with you that for the coming months, I will be serving as Interim Executive Director while our Board of Directors selects the permanent post-holder. Having served NP for the last seven years as country director in Sri Lanka, South Sudan and most recently in the fledgling Middle East programme, I am deeply motivated by the opportunity to contribute to the growth and development of this exceptional organization from the global perspective.
(Published June 14, 2016)
Working these years, in the field alongside NP colleagues from all over the world, has been the most extraordinary experience a person could hope to have in their life. I often find myself reflecting on how grateful and humbled I feel by it all. It is hard to put into words the depths of courage, resilience, commitment and love our teams bring to reducing violence and increasing the security of people affected by violent conflict.
And it is along side the NP colleagues we find the true heroes of our story – the communities we serve. Women, men, boys and girls who despite living through unthinkable realities, struggle to take care of each other and to build a peaceful future, even when the odds make it all seem like an impossibility.
When we look at the world today, we cannot deny that things are serious. The issue of violent conflict affects each and every one of us regardless of where we live. Today there are more people running for their lives than since WWII and the nature of conflict has changed so significantly that civilians are now 90% of war casualties. Children born in places like South Sudan and Syria in recent years have never known what peace looks like.
Our work at NP is about changing these paradigms – placing the safety, security and dignity of ordinary people as the central priority.
In the coming months, we will be focusing on three key goals:
- Scaling up the existing programmes and increasing the number of countries we work in to proactively respond to the real time protection needs of people living in violent conflict. When you are living in the midst of violence and chaos, every minute of everyday waiting for help means making unbearable choices for you and your family. We must move and reach as many people as we can.
- Working with governments, civil society groups, international institutions, donors and policy makers to increase their understanding of Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) in order to maximize the potential for the exponential positive impact on people’s security. Decision makers now realize that civilian protection is one of the central issues of our times and business as usual will no longer be enough. They are seeking options and we need to ensure that the growing awareness of UCP is supported with investment and action.
- To strengthen internal operations and functions to ensure effective, efficient and professional provision of services for our beneficiaries, donors, supporters and colleagues. As a smaller organization it is often a challenge to focus on the internal. We need to ensure that NP’s foundation is strong and the programme support functions are is operating at peak performance.
We look forward to keeping you updated on the progress! I would like to extend my personal thanks to all of you. Many of you donate money, some of you volunteer your time, some of you have family or friends who are serving with NP in the field and some of you are taking the time to learn about our work. Regardless of what your contribution is we are deeply grateful.
For anyone who wants to learn more or share thoughts, I can be reached at [email protected]
Tiffany Easthom
Interim Executive Director