About Reset

Reset is the UK’s Community Sponsorship learning hub. We were set up in 2018 to coordinate the growth of the Community Sponsorship movement across the UK to ensure it realises its full, transformative potential.

All Community Sponsorship groups must be trained by us in order for the Home Office to approve their application to resettle a refugee family. Our training covers the whole Community Sponsorship journey, from planning an application to preparing for the family’s arrival. We also support Local Authorities and Lead Sponsors as they prepare to work alongside groups. Our support continues throughout the first year of integration and we have regular meetings with everyone involved to track progress, identify any emerging issues and offer support.

We commission and fund research and conduct monitoring and evaluation aimed at understanding how Community Sponsorship works best. We also undertake policy development and advocacy to ensure the evolution of the scheme in a way that works for sponsored refugees and host communities.

We receive funding from the UK Home Office as well as from philanthropic organisations.

You can contact the Reset Team on enquiries@resetuk.org.

Meet Reset's Leadership Team

Kate

Chief Executive Officer

I am an experienced voluntary sector leader, researcher and educator. Most recently, I led local charity Learn English at Home (LEAH), training local volunteers to teach English to refugee and migrant adults with very low language levels. My first career was as a secondary school Citizenship teacher and I have a PhD in learning theory.

"I believe strongly in the power of individuals and communities to bring about change. At LEAH I saw how effective local community members could be in supporting new arrivals to integrate through language, and as a teacher of Citizenship I know how much young people are motivated to make a difference. I am proud to be part of the growth of communities welcoming newcomers."

Carly

Head of Services

I have a varied role at Reset, leading our training and advice team, managing programmes supporting all of those involved in Community-led welcome and looking after all areas of the operational side of the charity. I have over 15 years’ experience working in senior positions in the charity sector, including roles in genocide memorial, human rights and animal welfare. I volunteer with my local food bank and support people seeking asylum.

"I am so inspired by the individuals coming together to welcome newcomers into their community. Sharing a purpose to do something good for others, I am constantly amazed at the great lengths that those in the UK will go to help resettled families to create a new home. I want to make sure that Reset can offer all the advice, support and encouragement that groups need to support and empower individuals and families."

Meet the Reset trustees

Reset’s Board of Trustees has been selected to bring together a high calibre group who have the knowledge of the sector and the skills to govern and appropriately scrutinise the work of the organisation. Current membership is:

Richard Bell

Interim Chair

Rich is an experienced public affairs and policy professional who has led political advocacy projects for a range of non-governmental organisations. He currently works as an advisor to the leadership of the British Medical Association and is a former Head of Public Affairs, Policy and Research at the social mixing charity The Challenge, where he established and led the secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Integration. Rich has advised the Mayor of London on cohesion policy and is the author of numerous research reports on immigration, integration and community empowerment.

Paul Butler

Trustee

Paul is the Church of England Bishop of Durham; as such he is also a member of the House of Lords. He has taken a leading role for the Chruch of England on refugee matters over the past 3 years. He co-chaired the National Refugee Welcome Board for its first 18 months and sat on the All Party Parliamentary Group for Refugees Inquiry ‘Refugees Welcome’

Mais Haddadin

Trustee

Mais is a Bi-Lingual professional with wide international experience combining technology, innovation, markets and economic development. Passionate about inspiring nations, bridging need with expertise, and linking universities with Industry. A strategic business developer and professional networker with several years of commercial and partnering experience with a focus on business support for SMEs. Currently Mais is the Programme Director of "The Human Safety Net for Refugees" in Europe and a Senior Advisor to “Improve Employment Opportunities Programme" in Jordan. She is also on the Board of the Anglo Jordanian Society, a UK registered Charity.

Hilary Adams

Treasurer

Hilary is a Chartered Accountant with over 40 years' experience. She recently retired from her general practice where she worked both with businesses and charities. She now assists a number of charities both in the UK and overseas. She is a member of her local Community Sponsorship Group. As she finds being a Community Sponsorship volunteer so rewarding, joining the Reset Board seemed a logical progression.

Tim Finch

Trustee

Tim was involved in the setting up of community sponsorship of refugees as coordinator of the National Refugee Welcome Board and founding director of Sponsor Refugees. He founded the migration communications agency IMiX and before that was head of migration research at the think tank IPPR. He was director of communications at the Refugee Council, after a career as a BBC journalist. Tim is a novelist. His latest novel Peace Talks was shortlisted for the Costa Best Novel Award in 2020. He is a volunteer member of Peckham Sponsors Refugees, which welcomed a refugee family to Peckham in 2019.

Shilla Mutamba

Trustee

Shilla has substantial strategic leadership and senior management experience acquired from roles in operations management, project management, technical leadership, line management and clinical research. Among other things, she has led and managed complex, fast-paced, 24/7 operations in heavily-regulated scientific environments. Shilla is a published researcher with a PhD in Immunology. Having recently studied “Corporate Governance, Risk and Control” as part of her MBA, Shilla is passionate about board diversity, inclusive leadership and stakeholder-inclusive corporate governance. In supporting Reset’s work, Shilla draws on her experience as an ethnic minority immigrant. Shilla attends a church involved in Community Sponsorship.

Ellie Stacey

Trustee

After leaving school Ellie worked as cabin crew for British Airways and travelled the world… well, the airports! Marriage and children followed, as well as teacher training. After a long career as a primary school teacher, including two headships, Ellie relocated from Oxford to Cornwall. As part of her own resettlement to a new area, Ellie went along to a meeting of local people in Bude who wanted to urge the council in Cornwall to resettle refugees. From that meeting, one of the first Community Sponsorship groups in the UK emerged. Since then, Ellie has supported many Community Sponsorship groups across Cornwall and has spoken about her experience at conferences in South West England and to an international audience. For Ellie, taking early retirement has led to a whole new career as a volunteer in several fields and she is very interested in what volunteers bring to and gain from Community Sponsorship.

What next?

Find out more about where we work and who we work in partnership with.