About Topsy

Topsy Trustees

Charity trustees are the people who serve on the governing body of a charity. Trustees have, and must accept, ultimate responsibility for directing the affairs of a charity, and ensuring that it is solvent, well-run, and meeting the needs for which it has been set up. 

The Topsy Foundation UK has 5 Trustees:

Rodney Waldeck's work experience covers both the private and public sectors. He has extensive experience in the implementation of equal opportunity & diversity policies and programmes.   Rodney's skills and experience include policy analysis, event management, conflict resolution, and the planning and execution of management and trade union training programmes. In addition he is very familiar with diversity and discrimination policy and law from his work at the Commission for Racial Equality. Other experience includes work in voluntary organisations and running a service company in the private sector.

Silvia de Jager's career started in the corporate world working her practical year at South African Airways, and then joining Siemens (Pty) Ltd, both in the field of Public Relations.  After having had personal experience with the trauma of childhood cancer, she decided to leave the corporate world and joined the Reach For A Dream Foundation in the capacity of Public Relations/ Fundraising Co-ordinator.  The Reach For A Dream Foundation fulfills the dreams of children faced with life-threatening illnesses.  Within the first year she was appointed to the Board of Directors and was responsible for the operational role within the Foundation.  She was largely instrumental in quadrupling the budget and activities of the Foundation within this time and developed and implemented all the Foundation policies in terms of Operational, Administrative, Organisational and Personnel Strategies.  She remained with the Reach For A Dream Foundation for 14 years until she left in 2006 for an extended period abroad.  She was awarded Honorary Lifetime Membership by the Reach For A Dream Foundation. On her return, she joined the Topsy Foundation South Africa in July 2007, and as of January 2008 has held the position of Executive Director.

Dr. Christopher S. Walsh Dr. Christopher S. Walsh is a Senior Lecturer in Educational ICT and Professional Development in the Faculty of Education and Language Studies of The Open University and editor of Digital Culture & Education (DCE). Christopher has worked on several pedagogical initiatives in England, Bangladesh, Australia, Thailand, the USA and Afghanistan. He currently works on English in Action (EIA), a 9-year £50 million project designed to assist 25 million people in Bangladesh improve their English language skills through new technologies funded by the United Kingdom's Department for International development (DfID). Dr. Walsh's on-going work in Thailand has designed, piloted and maintains online and mobile peer education resources to protect public health and promote human rights through a sustainable and reinventing community owned response with stigmatised populations disproportionately at risk of HIV infection. In Viet Nam, for a UNDP funded project, he designed, led on implementing and analysing a large scale research project (quantitative, qualitative and video) assessing the impact of Clinical Legal Education (CLE) programmes initiated at 8 universities across the country. He is also Senior Research Analyst and Policy Advisor for Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia Community Legal Education Initiative (BABSEA CLE).

Belinda Crowe is an independent consultant.  Until recently she worked in Central Government specialising in information policy and security.  She discovered TOPSY when she was in South Africa on the Top Management Programme.   As part of the programme they visited charities, NGOs, companies and individuals who were playing a part in dealing with some of South Africa's problems.  She visited TOPSY and after spending most of the day at the clinic she was hooked.  The two Directors, Jana Oosthuizen and Silvia de Jager inspired her with their commitment and determination.  As well as visiting the clinic, she met some of the field workers, the women at the sewing project and visited some AIDs suffers living in the community.  She was so impressed by all that she saw that she applied to become a trustee of TOPSY UK before she even left South Africa and.... here she is!

Michael Attwell has worked as Director of MAP TV since 2001 producing programmes such as 9/11: A Tale of Two Towers (BAFTA nominated); Hanging El Greco (with National Gallery); Being British; Black British Style (with the V & A); Cutting Edge California (for BBC World); The Diana Years and Skin Deep.  He was Chairman of the National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS-UK) from 2004-2011 (now merged with Mencap) and Chairman of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts(BAFTA) from 2002-4.