Childrens Charity, India
Stuart has over 15 years working in the Football for Good sector. He first came to know about OSCAR in 2009 when he met Ashok on a conflict resolution course in Jordan. Captivated by Ashok’s passion and desire to change his community through football, Stuart and Dan Lawson visited India in 2010 to set up and deliver OSCAR’s first young leaders training.
Following the training, they made a commitment to all the young leaders that they would continue to support the organisation. Since 2010, Stuart has worked closely with Ashok to help to develop the organisation, such as: forming new strategic partnerships; applying for grant funding; developing OSCAR life skills curriculum; delivering staff or young leaders training; developing an organisational strategy and setting up an International arm to the charity.
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Born and brought up in Mumbai’s Ambedkar Nagar slum, Ashok saw many children from his community discontinue education due to poverty. Many children fell prey to addiction, or were victims of child marriage in the course of supporting their families. A staunch believer in the power of education, Ashok was inspired to start OSCAR Foundation.
Over the last decade, 3000+ children and youth have benefitted from OSCAR’s Football Programme, Education Programme, and Young Leaders Programme. OSCAR’s ‘No School, No Football’ policy to engage children towards education and using football to deliver essential life-skills to children from low-income communities has given Ashok the opportunity to share his learnings on access to education and importance of life-skills at many national and international forums. Ashok won the CNN-IBN Real Hero Award (2009).
Lucinda is an independent Marketing & PR consultant, with experience in a diverse range of industries. She has worked with the OSCAR foundation, both in India and the UK since 2015. Lucinda has initiated many of the key OSCAR International programmes, including the UK School Tours, Child Sponsorship and the International Young Leader programme.
Responsible for communications, fundraising and delivery of UK initiatives, she spends 6 weeks a year in India working closely with the team, ensuring the UK programmes are fit for purpose. Lucinda’s first UK school tour was made into a BAFTA winning television documentary and she recently won the Asian Voice, Charity Clarity Outstanding PR Award 2019. Lucinda is passionate about education and equal opportunities.
Crispin is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE) researching the application of new healthcare technology in India. He is a former Medical Technology company CEO and from 2017-2020, lived in Mumbai with his wife Georgina, serving on behalf of HM Government - as British Deputy High Commissioner for Mumbai and Western India, and Trade Commissioner for South Asia.
Their support for #kicklikeagirl and other programmes gave them a lasting respect for OSCAR and its people, with their dynamism and impact.
Dan is a co-founder of OSCAR International and a British Ultra marathon Runner. He holds the record for longest distance run during a 24-hour Ultramarathon in India and the record for distance run on a treadmill in 7 days, having run 521 miles. When he can ‘stand still’ he supports OSCAR with the young leader curriculum and life skills programmes.
Having recently completed a masters in International Development at Bath University, Alice is doing work in regenerative agriculture including projects focusing on livelihoods in commodities such as coffee and community supported agriculture. Alice has had an eclectic career holding leadership roles in people and talent, operations and technology in organisations such as Sainsbury’s, Visa Europe, The BBC, Informa and EMAP. She got involved in OSCAR after meeting Ashok Rathod (the founder) at a dinner in China and is now Chair of the Board. Alice volunteered with the Prince’s Trust, mentoring young people or teams from companies raising money for over 10 years. Alice focuses on governance and risk management as well as advising on operational, people and technology aspects of programmes.
She got involved in OSCAR after meeting Ashok Rathod (the founder) at a dinner in China and is now Chair of the Board. She also volunteers for the Prince’s Trust, mentoring young people or teams from companies raising money. Alice focuses on governance and risk management as well as advising on operational, people and technology aspects of programmes.
Cosmo is a Partner at True Search, a global executive search firm working with founder-led technology companies. He has spent his career in the technology and media sectors initially as a strategy & commercial executive with Channel Four Television and EMI Music, and for the past eight years as a recruiter and team builder.
He is also a co-founder and director of the Knowledge Schools Trust, a group of ‘free schools’ providing access to world class education for families in west London. He was introduced to OSCAR on a family visit to India in 2018. The following year he and his family played host to the OSCAR boys team during their visit to the UK.
Darren has worked in the football industry at both elite and grassroots level for the last 20 years. He was responsible for launching Brighton and Hove Albion’s award winning Football Inclusion programme and was also one of the founding coaches for the NGO Coaching for Hope. Darren is utilising his knowledge and coach education skills to help to develop and improve OSCAR’s ‘Reach your Max’ lifeskill curriculum.
Ruby began volunteering with OSCAR in 2016 as a fundraiser for the UK tours and is head of the International Young Leader Programme, which brings students from across the world together and creates valuable links between schools. As a young leader, she has worked with OSCAR both in the UK and India, giving talks as well as creating presentations and videos showcasing the UK tours. Ruby is passionate about getting children into education, especially girls. Ruby is currently doing a master’s degree in cardiovascular medicine research at the University of Bristol.
Sunita is passionate about supporting the OSCAR children in her community. She is responsible for the Child Sponsorship Programme and was team manager for the #kicklikeagirl UK Tour 2018. Sunita uses her organisational skills to ensure all passports, visas, equipment and the travel itinerary is prepared for overseas tours.
Sunita works closely with Lucinda in the UK. Sunita joined the OSCAR Foundation as a computer teacher in 2014. With the guidance of OSCAR’s CEO, Suraj Patro, she has successfully developed the curriculum for English, Hindi, Mathematics, Marathi and computer skills. Sunita has an MBA in Social Entrepreneurship from NMIMS (SVKM).
