ABOUT US
Firefly was founded in 1998 as a small youth arts project using creativity and collaboration to overcome the deep wounds of the Bosnian war. Since then Firefly has grown to support children whose lives have been affected by war and its aftermath in a number of countries. We work with local educators and innovators, people who know what is needed on the ground, to ensure our work has the greatest impact.
Based in the UK and run by a part time team with active volunteers and trustees, we monitor and support the organisations to whom we donate money.
OUR STORY
OUR PEOPLE
UK BASED
Director
Jane joined Firefly in October 2021 and has had a very distinguished career in the charity sector. She stepped down as Chief Executive of Scotland’s International Development Alliance last year, having previously held senior roles at both L’Arche and Mercy Corps. Jane read PPE at Oxford and has two Masters degrees from Edinburgh focusing on international development and peace building.
Charity Manager
Victoria (Tor) first joined Firefly as a volunteer in February 2014 before becoming Charity Manager and expanding her role into fundraising as well as handling all aspects of the charity’s administration; branding, correspondence, book keeping, managing the donor database, data inputting, website, newsletters, fundraising, events and much more! Previously a TV producer, Tor started her career at Thames TV moving to Channel 4, Tor’s TV skills are much appreciated by Firefly as she creates all our films.
Projects Coordinator
Maria has worked closely with Fadia (Firefly for Syrians Project Director) since February 2016 setting up the Antakya center and Firefly’s work with Syrians. She worked in the education sector for over twenty years as a teacher in the UK and as a trainer, training mental healthcare workers how to treat children with PTSD (Liberia, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Armenia). She has delivered teacher training as a consultant for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Jordan and Palestine as well as coordinating educational activities. She speaks Arabic and her work with Firefly for Syrians informs her current advisory role for Nabu’s read to resilience programme. (Nabu is a New York based, tech-enabled publisher of multilingual children’s books accelerating literacy through access to mother tongue books.
Appeal Director
Amy is a communications and fundraising professional with experience of working with a wide range of national and international charities as well as brands and government. In previous roles Amy has worked on social media behaviour change campaigns, charity brand projects and long term strategic planning for fundraising growth. Previous charity clients include Sue Ryder, RNIB, Unicef & Oxfam. Amy is an integrated project manager currently building Firefly’s mass fundraising capacity launching a public fundraising appeal to grow the audience base, build closer connections with our supporters and raise essential funds for the charity.
Finance Officer
Christopher is currently pursuing a BA (Hons) in Accounting at Napier University while also working as a Finance Officer for charitable organisations. My passion for accounting drives my dedication to helping businesses achieve their financial goals. I have experience working with various charities, including Training for Care and L’Arche.
I am a fourth-year student at the University of Edinburgh studying Geography. I grew up in Nottingham and enjoy going back during the holidays to see my dogs and family. I love playing hockey for the university as well as running and going out with my friends. Excited to be a social media volunteer for Firefly. In August 2024 I will be visiting Firefly’s project in Brčko with Ella.
Hi I’m Ella a fourth year student a the University of Edinburgh, studying English and Scottish Literature. Aside from uni, I was born and raised in North Leeds with two brothers and a Scottie dog called Mac. I like to keep myself busy by playing hockey, travelling, reading and spending time with my friends. I’m super excited to be involved with Firefly and especially excited to be visiting Svitac (Firefly in Bosnia) in August 2024 with Rosie.
TURKEY
Project Director for Firefly for Syrians
Director of our Educational Centre for Syrian refugee children in Antakya (Turkey), Fadia has lead the centre since the project started in March 2016, recruiting staff and developing the programme to serve the needs of her local Syrian refugee community. Fadia previously taught Maths in Syria, and was a manager for a Syrian teaching institute. She has had training in disaster resilience leadership and capacity building for Syrian youth and women.
Arabic language teacher
Rasha is a fully qualified primary school teacher from Syria, she also studied psychology. She leads our Arabic language programme for younger children. She is passionate about increasing literacy skills in mother tongue for Syrian refugee children. She has been teaching at our Antakya center since 2017. She was a voluntary teacher in Khirbet al Jowz refugee camp in Northern Syria for the two years before arriving in Turkey.
BOSNIA
Director of Omladinska organizacija, Svitac
From 1999 to 2002 Gordana has managed a team of up to 13 employees, coordinated general administration, motivated and promoted group and individual work.
Gordana has also run courses in English Language for children and young people. In 2001, she coordinated a project facilitating the re-integration of children from the Roma community into Brčko schools in cooperation with the schools, UNDP and municipality.
She coordinated a multi-ethnic festival in Brčko in 1999, the first multi-ethnic event in Brčko since the war, creating the programme, choosing groups to participate, and getting OHR and Municipality approval. She has been in charge of the Svitac’s overall development as a local NGO since June 2003.
Project Officer and Voluntary Service Coordinator
Miloš joined Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) in 2012. His primary responsibilities are coordinating and mentoring, designing, planning, participating and deploying seminars, training and youth exchange projects. He is also responsible for coaching sending/hosting volunteers to overcoming the obstacles that might occur during their volunteering experience.
Regarding peacebuilding in the local area, he is one of the coordinators for the network “Promote Positive” who is fighting against all shapes of hate speech in Brčko District which is supported by the mission OSCE for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 2012 Miloš graduated at the University of East Sarajevo, Faculty of Economics Brčko of the District, Department of Business Informatics.
Coordinator of the youth centre activities
Edina joined Omladinska organizacija Svitac (Firefly Bosnia) in Brčko 2007. She is also Svitac’s (Firefly Bosnia’s) representative at the Brčko District Youth Centre, in addition to being in charge of the coordination of ongoing activities, summer arts and crafts camps, administrative support, local and international volunteers. In 2012 Edina graduated at the University of Tuzla from the Faculty of Philosophy, Department of German Language and Literature.
TRUSTEES
Chair of Trustees
Sebastian is the Chair of Trustees of Firefly International, having actively supported the charity for many years.
He combines volunteering for Firefly with his business career and mentoring young people.
Sebastian is a non-executive director of CIL Management Consultants, Sentry Fire Safety Group and STL Tech and he advises a number of early stage businesses.
Previously he was the managing partner of CIL; operating in Somerset, London and Chicago. CIL specialises in helping high growth business with their growth strategy and gaining investment.
Sebastian started his career with PwC in London and went on to run a factory making door and building panels, before joining CIL as a partner in 1999.
Sebastian is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He has a degree in Economics and Social Studies from Manchester University.
Trustee
Ben is the brother of Firefly Founder Ellie Maxwell and has been a trustee of Firefly International since 2016. He is particularly closely affiliated with Svitac (Firefly Bosnia), which he has visited a number of times, mainly as a volunteer at Svitac’s youth summer camps. Ben also works to support Firefly’s fundraising efforts, including via a fundraising bike-ride in 2009 through Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia which ended at the old bridge at Mostar, where Ellie originally developed the idea of Firefly. As well as being a trustee, Ben sits on the event committee for Firefly’s annual gala concert which helps to raise awareness and funds for the charity’s various projects. Ben works in sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) at a leading European investment management business, where he focuses on addressing the environmental and societal impacts of the firm’s investments; he sits on the company’s Staff Charity Committee, which directs donations raised by staff members towards a range of charities in the UK. Ben graduated from Newcastle University in 1998 with a degree in Classics, and is a keen photographer, having supported Firefly by taking and exhibiting his photos.
Trustee
Diana McMicking joined Firefly in 2018. She has worked in the education sector for 30 years, initially as a teacher and latterly for educational charities. From 2005 to 2016 she was Learning Director at Jupiter Artland, co-creating, managing and developing a charitable foundation. She has held several charitable trusteeships and has consulted on various short-term projects helping with fundraising and audience development.
Trustee
Henrietta is a journalist with a particular interest in the Middle East. She made documentaries for Al Jazeera TV, which included six months in the Balkans followed by 12 years with BBC News. She has worked with several organisations that support Syrian civilians since 2011. She is currently launching a podcast for children.
Henrietta studied Arabic and Middle Eastern Politics at Durham University, during which time she volunteered in the West Bank, teaching English to Palestinian teenagers.
Trustee
Malaka is a Palestinian academic from the Gaza Strip, based in Scotland’s St Andrews University where she teaches and researches prisons as spaces of power, resistance, and peace building. Much of her research has been on the dynamics of prison hunger strikes. In addition to her research commitments, she is a trustee of BRISMES, Firefly International, and STEPS. In 2021, she co-founded Freelancers in Gaza with Candace Amani to connect youths in Gaza with clients around the world and provide them with mentorship. In her spare time, she loves to spend time hiking in Scotland or swimming in the North Sea whenever it is warm enough. And she has recently become interested in yoga and meditation. She finds purpose in giving back to her community, whether it is through teaching, mentorship, volunteering in organisations that fit her life purposes, or simply taking good care of the people she loves and herself to stay able to give back.
Trustee
Fenella is a producer of arts in the public realm. Working with local authorities, artists, communities and institutions to create ambitious arts projects and events, her work is often responsive to social events and landscapes. She has produced visual arts, theatre and multidisciplinary events on a local and national scale, including festivals, campaigns and theatrical performances.
Specialising in outdoor arts and performance, she is currently Senior Producer at Trigger in Bristol and has previously produced for Artichoke Trust, Good Chance Theatre, The Great Get Together and Belarus Free Theatre, where she was Producer/General Manager for 3 years.
Aleksandra (Saška) Haramina-Whitaker
Trustee
Trustee
Samer Chamsi-Pasha is the Chairman of SIBA (www.siba.world), the Syrian International Business Association, a member of the Board of Directors of the International Humanitarian Relief (www.ihrelief.org) and of Madaniya (www.madaniya-csn.org). Mr Chamsi-Pasha served on the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry Council (1991-1994) leading at the time several trade missions, as well as being elected as Vice President of the Syrian Arab Association in the UK (1994-1996), the main Syrian Expat Community representative body at the time in the UK.
Mr. Chamsi-Pasha joined his family’s Textile Industry in 1981 upon earning his Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering BS degree from the University of Pittsburgh. While at Pitt in 1979, he was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award given annually to the highest achieving student in the School of Engineering. He then continued his education in 1983-1985 graduating from the London Business School MBA program.
Today, Mr Chamsi-Pasha manages various family companies in textile, property and international trade.
PATRONS
To view a short film featuring some of our wonderful patrons, please click HERE
- The Rt Hon The Lord Alderdice
- Sarah Anderson
- Adrian Beidas
- Viscountess Bridgeman CBE FRSA
- Patricia Broke
- Rosemary Chambers
- Pandora Colin
- Virginia Constable Maxwell
- Lady Julia Craig Harvey
- Sir Andrew Cubie CBE
- Joanna David
- Charles Fitzherbert
- Professor Colin Green PhD DSc FRCVS
- Dr Patsy Hickman
- Caroline Hornyold MVO
- Lady Zara Jellicoe
- Adrienne Kennedy
- Rose Leslie
- Sally, Countess of Malmesbury
- Isabel Sheinman
- Neil Stuke
- Sophie Thompson
- The Rt Hon. the Baroness Warsi
- Dr Jeremy Wildeman
ELLIE MAXWELL
Ellie Maxwell, who died in 2009 aged 32, of complications from cancer, was a quietly spoken social activist with a grace, laconic wit and purposefulness that guided her life and work. At 21, she founded Firefly International, a Scottish charity whose mission is to foster multi‐ethnic youth projects in Bosnia and elsewhere.
To fund Firefly in the beginning, she enlisted fellow Edinburgh University students to canvass the neighbourhood. Edinburgh pub-goers were the most generous early givers. Later, the Princess of Wales Charitable Trust joined the list, giving substantial support. As Firefly grew in impact in Bosnia, Ellie was awarded Young Achiever of the Year (1997) at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, by the Queen, and Catholic Woman of the Year 1998.
“For social change to occur,” Ellie wrote, “people’s networks of friends, acquaintances and colleagues must cross the boundaries of race, nationality or language, along which they are often based”. Ellie’s life was cut short, but her work continues. Through her initiative, Firefly & Svitac continue to thrive.
An excerpt from Ellie’s obituary by John Stickney published in The Guardian, 28 April 2009
See the full article from The Independent here.
THE ELLIE MAXWELL AWARD
The 2024 Award
Congratulations to Ella Duffield, this years’ winner for Sanitree.
Read the Press Release HERE
Ellie Maxwell was an amazing and inspiring young woman whose short life was dedicated to helping children whose lives had been devastated by war.
As a student, at Edinburgh, she worked as an aid worker in Bosnia in the aftermath of the devastating civil war in the 1990s. Through her experiences, she came to believe that shared creative activities and contact with the outside world play an important part in reducing the tensions linked to sectarian violence. As a result, Ellie founded Firefly believing that the lives of children from places of conflict would be transformed through integration, education and mentoring. In her memory and to celebrate the innovative work of Edinburgh students in the charitable sector, the trustees now give an annual award to a student or group whose work exemplify Ellie’s legacy.
Background
The award was launched in 2019 at Firefly’s 20th anniversary celebrations.
Awarded annually through Edinburgh University. It has been funded for 5 years by the Maxwell Family and friends to honour work being done by young people in some of the most challenging areas of the charitable sector.
The Award
The Ellie Maxwell Award aims to encourage and support an Edinburgh-based student or group of students who have helped promote social change and inclusivity with their project. Ellie Maxwell’s work started when she was just a student at the University of Edinburgh and eventually expanded to produce meaningful change in Bosnia and more recently Palestine, Turkey and Syria. This prize is also part of her legacy: encouraging and rewarding young students who go out there and get involved with their community – whether it is local or global.
Who is eligible for this award?
- Undergraduate and taught postgraduate students, aged 17-30, studying at the University of Edinburgh. Online and distance learning students are welcome to apply.
- Their project has been running for one to two years and there has been some evidence of meaningful impact and social change. There is also some early evidence of sustainability to build upon.
- Project focus is on social change, promoting tolerance and inclusion
- Projects could be working in the field of Human Rights, the environment, children protection, gender equality, education or any other work which promotes tolerance and inclusion.
What is the award?
The prize consists of £1000 of seed funding for your charity, organizational support, mentoring and connection to Firefly International’s network.
The winning charity will present a report after a year to demonstrate the impact of the funding and support on their project.
Previous Winners
2019 Maisie Palmer for mxogyny
2019 Moh Al Haifi and Pauline Libsovar for Colours of Edinburgh
2021 Forget Shareka for Life Hope Future Association
2022 Saloni More for Mahim Aboli Foundation
2023 Joana CG Rodrigues for In2MedSchool
2024 Ella Duffield for Sanitree
POLICIES & REPORTS
Annual Reports
2021-22 Annual Report
2020-21 Annual Report
2019-20 Annual Report
2018-19 Annual Report
2017-18 Annual Report
2016-17 Annual Report
Contact us for our full report archive here
