Maya is a life-long campaigner, passionately committed to upholding the rights and dignity of asylum seekers, refugees and all migrants. She has lived and worked across sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Maya spent eight years with Oxfam, first as a policy advisor in Juba, South Sudan and subsequently as Oxfam GB’s Head of Humanitarian Campaigns and Policy. In that role, she managed a global team and led high-profile campaigns, including on Yemen and UK arms sales, and Oxfam’s ‘StandAsOne’ refugee campaign.
Prior to that, Maya worked for the International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention think tank, in Nairobi, London and Brussels.
Maya left Oxfam in March 2017 to focus on activism closer to home and to freelance for the refugee and migrant sector in the UK. She worked with Social Finance and Good Faith Partnership to help create the UK’s first charity, Reset, dedicated to community sponsorship of refugees.
Maya has also been involved in efforts to strengthen collaboration of the UK’s refugee and migrant sector. This included facilitating a 2017 Annual Retreat of over 40 CEOs and senior leaders from the sector. In a personal capacity, she has been involved with the charity Refugees at Home, hosting a Syrian refugee in her home.