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Alliance Staff

Our Secretariat consists of a core team of staff who work to increase awareness and support of the Alliance's work and membership around the world. Contact us to explore how we can support your next project.

Hugh Salmon | Director

Hugh Salmon

Hugh joined the Alliance as Director in August 2020. He is a qualified social worker, with 10 years of experience in direct social work practice and management of social services, and 20 years of experience internationally as a technical advisor, trainer, consultant and programme manager. He first worked mainly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, but since has worked on various assigments in the Middle East, South and South East Asia, Africa and Latin America. Hugh was a member of the leadership team that established Family for Every Child as a new global alliance of local civil society organizations, committed to reforming and improving children’s care worldwide. During this time, he helped grow and strengthen the engagement of members in the alliance. He also coordinated a range of multi-country, member-led projects of research, learning and practice exchange, and led the development of the RISE Learning Network on recovery and reintegration from child sexual exploitation.  More recently, Hugh has worked as a consultant, and since 2020 as Director of the Global Social Service Workforce Alliance, on a range of regional and national initiatives to map, assess, develop and strengthen the social service workforce, focusing on its role in child protection and social protection in particular, but also in health, education and justice systems.  He has master’s degrees in Social Work from Goldsmiths, University of London, and in Civil Society Management from London South Bank University. He has lived with his family in both Kyrgyzstan and the UK, and is currently based in London. 

Alena Sherman | Communications and Advocacy Manager

Alena ShermanAlena joined the Alliance as Communications and Advocacy Manager in June 2021. She has six years of experience designing and implementing strategic communications to disseminate knowledge and showcase learning from a variety of initiatives focused on international development and humanitarian assistance. Specifically, she has focused on strategic communications within the areas of global health; water, sanitation and hygiene; and education in emergencies. Alena also has five years of experience working as an English Language Acquisition and Work Readiness Instructor for resettled refugees and immigrants in Colorado, USA. She is responsible for supporting the Alliance in developing and deploying strategies to communicate with Alliance members and external audiences and engage them in efforts to jointly build knowledge and advocate for the social service workforce. Alena holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Colorado and a master's degree in international human rights, with a focus on humanitarian assistance, from the University of Denver. She resides in Colorado, USA.

Dr. Natia Partskhaladze | Senior Technical Advisor

Natia joined the Alliance in 2014 as a Steering Committee Member and has since served as a Senior Technical Advisor and Consultant. She has 20 years of experience in the field of child and social protection systems, alternative care and social service workforce strengthening, both at the policy and programming level. She is a founder of the Georgian Association of Social Workers and one of the establishers of social work academic education in the Democratic Republic of Georgia, teaching social work at the graduate and undergraduate programs. Currently, she is a Chairperson of the Georgian State Council on Social Work Academic Education. Natia has worked for UNICEF Georgia and UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia in Geneva for almost 10 years and has contributed towards reforming child care and strengthening social work profession in Georgia and other countries of the Region. As an independent consultant she is currently supporting the national governments and UNICEF offices in developed and developing countries. She earned social work, medical and policy graduate degrees from leading universities in the USA, Georgia and Hungary and has a doctoral degree in social work.