Kirsty Smith

Biography

Kirsty Smith is CEO of CBM UK, part of the disability and development federation CBM Global, which aims to improve the quality of life of the world’s poorest people with, or at risk of, disabilities. CBM Global does this through influencing development and humanitarian interventions to be more inclusive, and through working with local diseases and disabled people’s organisations on prevention and treatment of diseases which can lead to impairment, improving access to education and rehabilitation services, and advocating for the rights of people with disabilities to full inclusion in all aspects of life. CBM UK employs 40 staff, has a turnover of over £8m, and is based in Cambridge, UK.

Kirsty has over 25 years of experience in the development sector and joined CBM in Sept 2012 after 12 years as CEO of MRDF, an organisational development catalyst agency based in London. Kirsty has played a key role in the formation of the new federal structure of CBM Global and has led change processes in the governance, structure and business model of CBM UK, MRDF and as Chair of the International CBM Federation.

Kirsty is an expert in disability inclusion and participatory community development techniques that encourage people who have no voice, to find a voice. She has worked with many mainstream agencies, management consultancies, government stakeholders and civil society organisations to build their capacity in all areas, acting as a catalyst to strengthen their systems and structures in order to increase their impact. This has included the development of the Humanitarian Inclusion Standards, aimed at improving the quality and effectiveness of humanitarian response, and the Humanitarian Hands On Tool, a mobile app providing technical guidance on how to make relief services inclusive. As International Development Studies module co-ordinator on the MA Theatre for development course at Southampton University, she taught on a range of areas including gender, monitoring and evaluation, and social accountability.