Joanna leads NCB’s youth voice and influencing work, ensuring our projects and programmes reflect, and are evidenced by, the lived experiences of children and young people.
She is a youth participation and co-production expert with 10+ years’ experience engaging the strategic voices of children and young people to influence national policy, research engagement, governance structures, and workforce development across education, health, and social care. Joanna supports local and national government, as well as statutory organisations, to ensure children and young people’s lived experiences, needs and opinions inform learning and policy and service development.
Jo is just as busy outside of work as she is in the office, volunteering in a range of leadership roles to increase opportunities for girls and young women to access skills development and mentorship; it is the weekly group activities engaging with girls in local communities that most inspires her.
Jo is passionate about supporting children and young people to develop their confidence and realise their aspirations. It is her strong belief that children and young people have the right to be heard, to be treated with respect, to be included in decisions that affect them, and to be empowered to achieve their fullest potential.