Sally, a former MP and development minister, has a long standing commitment to Africa and education. Her most recent post, was as founding director of the Anglican Alliance, an international initiative for development, relief and advocacy, which she set up from scratch.
Africa Educational Trust provides high quality education programmes in countries affected by conflict, focusing on education for girls and young women, people with disabilities and the most hard-to-reach groups. It specialises in providing innovative programmes – such as development peace-building curricula for schools in Somalia – which can only be taken on and replicated by government organisations.
Ms Sally Healy, chair of the AET Board of Trustees said: ‘The board very much looks forward to having Sally on board as Executive Director, to continue the excellent work of her predecessors Sara Cottingham and Michael Brophy.’
Sally Keeble said: ‘This is an exciting opportunity to make a difference in an organisation that provides the most transformative development services. Education in conflict affected states makes a huge difference to the life chances of some of the world’s more vulnerable children. AET does inspirational work in some very difficult communities, and I am looking forward to the challenge of taking this forward.’
Sally was originally a journalist before moving into politics to work for the Labour Party, the GMB trade union, and she then become Leader of the Southwark Council. She became MP for Northampton North in 1997, serving as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of International Development, and the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. She served as Executive Chair of the Council for Education in the Commonwealth before being appointed as the Director of the Anglican Alliance, setting up an international development agency for the 88-million strong worldwide family of Anglican churches.
