Lisa Nandy
Policy Adviser for Young Refugees
Lisa Nandy, 29, joined The Children’s Society in 2005 as Policy Adviser for young refugees. She is responsible for leading The Children's Society's national efforts to influence change in the laws, policies and practices affecting child asylum seekers, refugees and children who have been trafficked. Key areas where The Children's Society seeks reform include the asylum process, immigration detention and destitution policies.
She currently chairs the Refugee Children’s Consortium, a coalition of 30 leading charities working on behalf of refugee children. Lisa spearheaded lobbying to outlaw Section 9 of the 2004 Asylum and Immigration Act, which rendered families destitute by withdrawing all state support and threatened to take their children into state care. She and other NGO colleagues also recently persuaded government ministers to adhere to national children's standards regarding the safe treatment of child refugees.
Lisa has published several reports on the situation of child refugees, including "Going It Alone," a 2007 study of children in the asylum process, and in 2008, "Living on the Edge of Despair: Destitution Amongst Asylum Seeking and Refugee Children." She is an advisor to the Children's Commissioner for England, and the Independent Asylum Commission about refugee children.
Before joining The Children’s Society, Lisa was a Policy and Research Officer from 2003-2005 at Centrepoint, a youth homelessness charity working to improve the lives of socially excluded young people by providing accommodation and support programmes. During this time, Lisa worked on an initiative that eventually banned the use of poor quality hostels as housing accommodation for 16 and 17-year-olds. She also authored the report "Waiting in Line: Young Refugees in the Labour Market," which addresses key barriers young refugees face when looking for employment.
She graduated in 2001 from Newcastle University with a degree in politics, and then earned a masters degree in public policy from the University of London. Following graduation, she launched her career with Neil Gerrard MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees. Lisa was responsible for helping to coordinate the group and researching new government proposals.
In her free time, Lisa serves a school governor for Brackenbury Primary School in West London. She also enjoys travelling.
Areas of expertise: child refugees, child trafficking, destitution, detention.