Chief Executive of Safer Cardiff

Finalist: Voluntary and Not for Profit.

Safer Cardiff is an association of social inclusion and community safety initiatives which protect people’s right to feel safe. The initiatives are: HomeSafe, ChildSafe, ReStart, Cardiff Women’s Safety Unit, Cardiff -Wales Lesbian and Gay Mardi Gras, Combating Homophobia Project, Project Dyn and StreetLife.

Barbara is an inspirational and innovative leader who continually pushes the boundaries of the voluntary sector to get the best possible results for the community she works in.

As a leader, Barbara communicates clear, inspirational but tangible visions across diverse audiences. She is passionate about protecting human rights and combating social exclusion and inspires the rest of the organisation to follow her lead. She encourages others to reflect upon their own development in order to show that everyone can make a difference. She strives to ensure that people feel valued, empowering them to have ownership of their work. Her leadership has resulted in the creation of an all-encompassing organisation that reflects the community it serves.

Barbara encourages active participation and collaboration between workers to get the best possible outcome. Her management style is collaborative, inclusive and empowering. She believes in teamwork as a way of achieving things that cannot be achieved through individuals alone. She uses this approach to positively influence all aspects of service deliverance and development.

Innovation defines Barbara’s approach. She believes in the voluntary sector and its ability to make change in communities. Barbara embraces collaborations with partner organisations. She has overcome challenges to bring together the public, private and voluntary sectors to benefit communities, whilst helping businesses and their staff at the same time. Her background in business training has contributed to the growth and stability of the organisation and it is now a true social enterprise, generating its own income and becoming self-sustaining.