Lena Bheeroo is a leader and activist working at the intersection of justice, equity, and transformation within the UK charity and international development sector. She is Head of Philanthropic Partnerships and Influencing at ADD International, where she leads on building decolonial, strategic partnerships and shaping influencing work rooted in disability justice, lived experience, and power-shifting.
Lena has extensive experience in anti-racism, decolonisation, and systemic change. Formerly with Bond, she co-authored the sector reports Racism, Power and Truth and Justice-Led Approaches to Global Development, and led This is the Work, a programme embedding anti-racist and decolonial practice in policy and advocacy. She works closely with CEOs, boards, and senior leaders to strengthen anti-racism commitments, transform organisational culture, and embed equity and accountability at a systemic level.
As Co-Chair of Board Racial Diversity UK, and through her activism with the UK grassroots movement CharitySoWhite and the global collective Racial Equity Index, Lena continues to advocate for justice-led leadership and representation across the sector. A #ShiftThePower Fellow, her practice is grounded in feminist leadership, centring care, collaboration, and lived experience, and in collective approaches to building a more equitable and transformative future.
Posts
Beyond solidarity: five years on, will our sector live its anti-racism values?
Five years have passed since the murder of George Floyd forced a global reckoning with racism. Yet in the UK international development sector, the question “what has changed?” still lands heavily, often with silence, discomfort, or defensiveness.
Who works in international development – and does it matter?
Equity, diversity and inclusion are not peripheral to the crises in international development, but central to both the problems we face and the solution.
UK race riots one year later: confronting racism and demanding change
It has now been a year since the 2024 race riots erupted across the UK, a powerful and painful reminder of the racial injustice that continues to shape our society. As we reflect, we must ask ourselves: what has really shifted in the past 12 months?