The Renewal Programme has some incredible staff working, behind the scenes, who are all dedicated to transforming the lives of, and empowering, Newham residents. Get to know some of our client facing team a bit better below.

Peter Laing
Chief Executive Officer
Having joined The Renewal Programme as Chief Executive Officer in March 2020, it’s Peter’s responsibility to make major decisions about the charity, manage the overall operations and resources and act as the main point of contact between the board of trustees and general operations.
Peter has spent the last 30 years working within the non-profit and educational sectors in Newham and his passion lies in working collaboratively to bring out the best in people and communities.

Louise Vera
Director of Training & Youth
Louise has been with The Renewal Programme since 2005 as the driving force behind our Training & Youth projects. With a background in both, she has extensive experience in the development and delivery of education and youth programmes through contract and grant funding.
Louise is committed to providing opportunities for the local community, enabling them to gain necessary skills and the confidence to lead fulfilled and successful lives.

Damian Callender
Director of Support and Empowerment
As Director of Support & Empowerment, Damian works across the organisation providing guidance & support to several of our projects, those who work within them & our service users.
With 20 years’ experience in sectors such as mental health, criminal justice, substance misuse and homelessness, Damian is passionate about creating enriching opportunities for service users that engage in a variety of specialist services provided by The Renewal Programme.

Humera Ali
RAMP Service Worker
Humera has been working at The Renewal Programme since 2016 within the Refugee and Migrant Project as a service case worker. Alongside providing support, advocacy and advice to service users, Humera also organises our bi-weekly food bank, working with local businesses and donors to ensure vulnerable people within Newham have access to essential items.
Humera is passionate about working with vulnerable refugees, asylum seekers and migrants; she believes in empowering unheard individuals and families from all walks of life.

Melanie Berard
Volunteer Project Manager
Melanie has been in charge of our Volunteering Programme since November 2020.
Having grown up in the French Alps, her background involves working with asylum seekers on the French-Italian border; she has spent most of her career working with refugees and migrants.
Melanie is particularly passionate about supporting our service users into volunteering. She believes in the power of volunteering to help people feel that they are valued parts of their community.

Shirley Narh
Centre Manager
Shirley joined the Renewal Programme back in 2010 and has become an integral part of the team, working across the organisation via HR, finance, support services and facilities management. Over the years, Shirley has continued to form strong relationships with community organisations, clients and donors.
She can often be found at our HQ, 395 High Street North.

Jubada Hakim
Housing Services Manager
As Housing Services Manager Jubada Hakim joined The Renewal Programme in June 2023. She is responsible for overseeing the Single Homeless Rough Sleepers Pathway managing the Adult Services & Young People’s provision across Newham.
Jubada has a 22-year background of working within various local authority commissioned Housing Related Services (HRS) around London & Essex and has also trained as a Social Worker in Child Protection.
Jubada is committed to working with people that have faced difficult lives and is keen to work with service users in a trauma informed way to enable them to better understand and overcome these challenges. She is looking forward to working with RP and its Commissioners to understand and respond to the root causes of homelessness.

Sylwia Szymczyk
Immigration Advisor
In November 2022 Sylwia was invited to join the UEL Law Advisory Board.
She has worked on various projects designed to prevent destitution of the RP service users, Local authority, NHS, local charities and the food banks clients around Newham.

Robert McLean
Surplus Food Partnership Coordinator
As our Surplus Food Partnerships Coordinator, Robert is responsible for running our Community Pantry whilst ensuring we are stocking this with culturally appropriate food to meet the needs of our diverse community. The food that we stock in the pantry is sourced from local businesses who are willing to donate their surplus food to us and other members within the Newham Food Alliance. Our team will collect and deliver the food on our carbon neutral electric cargo bikes. This logistics aspect is a key part of the project to ensure we provide a sustainable service in a net zero capacity.
Rob has two years previous experience working with cargo bikes in logistics, and has five years of general Logistics Management knowledge. He is excited to apply his knowledge and experience to help fight food poverty within Newham in his new role with us.
Our Staff
The above individuals provide only a snapshot into the people behind the Renewal Programme; each project has a dedicated department and many staff work across the organisation. The Renewal Programme is made up of a team who believe in supporting individuals to make positive changes to their lives. We believe that a holistic, person-centred approach is the best way to truly achieve these changes.
The people at the Renewal Programme share the visions and values of our organisation. We’re all driven by the idea that we can truly make a difference to the borough.

Our Values
Dignity: treating everyone with kindness and respect.
Inclusion: a community where everyone belongs.
Collaboration: working together to achieve more.
Empowerment: co-creating opportunities for positive change.
Join the Team
Since the Renewal Programme was founded in 1971, our team have always been committed to community care and development. We’re drawn to people with a deep sense of dignity, inclusion, collaboration and empowerment – our values.
If you would like to join our team, please check out our Careers page.