Who We Are

HomeWorkers Worldwide (HWW) is a UK-based organisation set up to support the movement of homebased workers around the world.

Homebased workers are found throughout the world, in countries of the South and the North. Since the 1970s, there has been a growing movement to organise for visibility and recognition, to improve working and living conditions. HWW exists to support this movement and to help it grow.

HWW Office

The HWW office is based in Leeds, West Yorkshire and is staffed by a combination of part-time staff and volunteers. HWW is a not-for-profit organisation, whose work is overseen by a team of six trustees.

Lucy Brill

HWW Co-ordinator

Dr. Lucy Brill re-joined Homeworkers Worldwide as a staff member in 2017, initially managing research on working conditions in the UK textile industry. She worked alongside Jane Tate, HWW’s International Co-ordinator until her retirement, co-ordinating work with homeworkers in footwear manufacturing supply chains in Tamil Nadu. HWW is currently leading advocacy work on an EC funded project improving transparency of homeworking in apparel supply chains in India, Pakistan and Nepal, with Traidcraft Exchange and HomeNet South Asia. Prior to re-joining HWW Lucy worked for Oxfam on poverty and livelihood programmes in England between 2008-14, and on research projects at Bradford and Manchester universities. Lucy’s doctoral thesis explored the situation of homeworkers within a globalising world, focusing specifically on homeworkers, and the organisations working with them, in the UK and Chile. Lucy also has practical experience of working with homeworker organisations both in the UK and in Chile.

Ishbel Watson

HWW Administrator

The latest addition to HWW, Ishbel joined the team in March 2020. Ishbel is responsible for running the HWW office, finance, admin and generally keeping things organised and running smoothly. She also runs HWW’s social media and provides design support. Alongside her administrative role for HWW, Ishbel also runs her own business as an independent jewellery designer and maker. The challenges faced by global homeworkers is something Ishbel is very passionate about and she is delighted to work alongside Lucy to progress the aims of HWW.

Trustees

Linda Devereux - Treasurer

Former Director of NGH, the National Group on Homeworking, Leeds, UK

Linda Devereux MBE is the former director of the National Group on Homeworking (NGH). Linda has been active in the movement for homeworkers’ rights for many years, initially working in West Yorkshire and later with NGH. Linda has represented homeworkers in the UK in the Ethical Trading Initiative and has experience of working with a range of other organisations including trade unions, Oxfam and other national and international bodies. Linda has experience of managing a voluntary organisation including finances and fund-raising, and is now Company Secretary for LCVS Enterprises.

Al Garthwaite

Director of Vera Media, Leeds

Al Garthwaite is a founder member of the HWW Trust, is a Labour Councillor with Leeds City Council. She has also been the Director of feminist-run social enterprise Vera Media for over 30 years, producing several films and photo exhibitions about homeworking as well as organising events, exhibitions and presentations on homeworkers for diverse audiences, including academics, primary school children and the National Women’s Trade Union Congress. Al has extensive experience of working with women, community outreach and participatory research and production, and of the public sector and small business. As well as Vera Media, she has helped set up a number of thriving social enterprises and is a trustee / board member of seven other NGOs, including the Feminist Archive, Faith Together in Leeds 11, LeedsBID and environmental charity Groundwork.

Nesta Holden

Former homeworking policy officer, and fundraiser

Nesta worked as Policy and Campaigns officer for the National Group on Homeworking (NGH) from 2005-2008, where her particular focus was the status of homeworkers under UK employment law. She then spent 7 years at HWW working on policy and research projects. At both NGH and HWW she produced a range of publications including ‘100 Years of Homework’ and ‘Homeworking in the UK: a Practical and Ethical Guide for Business’. Nesta is now supporting a number of voluntary organisations with their fundraising, media and campaign work.

Julie Jarman - Chair

Programme Manager, EHRC, Manchester, UK

Julie Jarman has worked on poverty alleviation projects in the UK and internationally for 30 years. She worked for WaterAid for 6 years, 3 in Tanzania on a large scale water and sanitation project, and 3 based in the UK on policy and advocacy. More recently she worked for Oxfam as the England Director in the UK Poverty Programme for 13 years, and in this role supported work on the labour rights of vulnerable workers in the UK. She has a particular commitment to work on homeworking and the labour rights of vulnerable women workers. Julie’s main skills are in strategic planning, programme management and fundraising.

Peter Williams

Labour rights consultant and activist, Oxford, UK

Peter is a consultant/activist working on labour rights and livelihoods with wide experience in international development. This experience includes 14 years in Oxfam, managing field programmes in Brazil and Oxfam’s Fair Trade Programme and finally as Global Livelihoods Adviser, focusing on the rights of informal workers (homeworkers, smallholder farmers and their employees) in global supply chains.

Peter is active in the Ethical Trading Initiative, representing HWW in the ETI Homeworker Project and in our engagement with ETI member companies. He is employed part-time as Co-ordinator of the ETI NGO Caucus and also by Oxfam International, supporting their strategy to improve the impact of Fairtrade on labour rights.

Adviser

Dr Annie Delaney

Labour rights academic

Dr Annie Delaney is a senior lecturer in the School of Management at RMIT University Melbourne, Australia. Prior to commencing an academic career, she worked for the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) and the FairWear Campaign (1994-2006) and developed expertise on homework, international garment and supply chain issues. Annie led national initiatives to improve garment homeworkers working conditions and recognition in the fashion industry and by Australian federal and state governments. The successful implementation of a suite of regulatory mechanisms to protect homeworkers including, the homeworkers code of practice, homeworker specific state legislation, and deeming provisions of homework in national labour regulation are key outcomes of her work at the TCFUA.

Annie’s knowledge and industry experience has informed her research career. Annie’s research interests of gender, homework, informal economy, and corporate accountability have led her to collaborate and consult with a wide range of organisations. She has published extensively on homework, is the recipient of several grants to conduct homework related research including, non-judicial mechanisms and redress and corporate denial techniques in global garment supply chains.Her most recent publication ‘Homeworking Women: A gender justice perspective’ with co-authors Rosaria Burchielli, Jane Tate and Shelley Marshall was published by Routledge in 2019.