Esuantsiwa Jane Goldsmith

Overview

Esua works as an independent energiser, motivator and strategist in the not-for profit sector. In 1995, she founded Anona Development Consultancy, offering strategic planning, management and governance development, facilitation, training, and team-building.
Her light-touch facilitation style combines humour with specially-designed dynamic, experiential, participatory, challenging techniques and frameworks, to create unique workshop experiences and processes that can help transform organisations. Esua is a lively, dynamic chair and keynote speaker at conferences and events.

Esua has worked with more than 100 different groups, networks and organisations on five different continents. She is a specialist in diversity, gender, race, and international development, drawing on personal experience over more than 30 years as a feminist activist in the women’s movement and women’s human rights worldwide, and in connecting communities in the UK and Africa in her role as Queen of Development of her family village in Ghana. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Leicester in 2015 for her contribution to women’s rights, equality and the voluntary sector. In March 2018, Leicester University unveiled a specially-commissioned portrait of Esua as the first woman President Leicester University Students’ Union, to commemorate the centenary of women’s suffrage.

Clients

Esua’s has worked in over a hundred organisations across all not-for-profit sectors, including; Voluntary Sector UK, Europe and International Development, Women's Organisations, Training / Advisory and Community Organisations, Government, Public Bodies, Public Sector, Funding Bodies, Corporate sector and Black and Minority Ethnic Organisations. Esua's clients include: Action Aid, Age Concern Black & Minority Ethnic Forum, the British Council, Body Shop International, BOND, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Citizens Advice, Comic Relief, Commonwealth Secretariat, FORWARD, DfID, European Women’s Lobby, Equality and Human Rights Commission, Gender & Development Network, Greenpeace, International Diabetes Federation, NCVO, NSPCC, Save the Children, Trades Union Congress, Oxfam, Plan International, WaterAid, World Development Movement, Women's Aid, Womankind and Women & Children First UK.

Qualifications

• B.A. (Hons.) 2:1 in Combined Arts and PGCE in Humanities - Leicester University 1975 and Leicester University School of Education 1976
• Honorary Doctorate 2015 University of Leicester
• Languages: Italian (advanced), French (intermediate), Swahili and Fante (basic)

Experience

• Chairing / Facilitation Wide-ranging experience of chairing and facilitating international, national and local conferences and assemblies of up to 400 people in an informal and enjoyable style.
• Strategic Planning, Theory of Change, Evaluation Proven ability to help develop and implement tailor-made, practicable strategic plans for organisations and departments of all sizes, using a unique ten-step participatory strategic planning framework.
• Management Development , coaching, mentoring Ability to work with management teams, boards of trustees and individuals to develop management strategies, update skills and knowledge on a range of issues and increase personal and professional confidence.
• Training and Advising Extensive experience of designing and delivering participatory and dynamic training courses including gender and diversity awareness, race, assertiveness, teambuilding, leadership and management development. Initial in-depth needs assessment ensures that courses are tailored individually to meet each client’s special requirements. Training values: Participatory, experiential, challenging, dynamic, fun.
• Research and Consultancy Extensive research portfolio on policy issues including gender, violence against women, black and minority ethnic issues, diversity and international development. Expertise in qualitative research including running focus groups, consultation workshops and conducting interviews.
• Public Speaking and Writing Lively, humorous and informative keynote conference and after dinner speeches, presentations and media interviews. Reports, manuals, articles and pamphlets in clear, accessible language for a variety of internal and external audiences.