Our Team

Our Team

Jane-Ann McKenna, Chief Executive Officer

Jane-Ann joined Dóchas as Chief Executive Officer in November 2021. She left a career in banking in 2007 to join Medicines Sans Frontier (MSF) where she worked for 12 years, including postings in Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan, Central African Republic and Afghanistan.  She served as Director of MSF Ireland from 2011-2016. Most recently, she returned to Ireland in 2020 to support Ireland’s Covid-19 response, working with the HSE in the National Social Inclusion Office.

Anna Farrell, Finance and Operations Manager

Anna joined the organisation in May 1981 when it was known as The Confederation of Non-Governmental Development Organisations (CONGOOD). She was the only staff member from May 1982 to October 2002 and was responsible for overseeing the amalgamation of CONGOOD and the Irish National Assembly (an EC related forum of Irish NGOs concerned with development) to form Dóchas – The Irish Association of Non-Governmental Development Organisations in 1993. She has negotiated office leases and moved the organisation a total of 7 times down through the years. 

Anna’s areas of responsibility include finance, office management and general administration. She attends and services meetings of the Dóchas Board, its sub-committees on Finance, Audit and Risk and on Governance and of the General Assembly. She also provides administrative support to the Company Secretary role. 

She is fiercely loyal to and protective of Dóchas members as well as of the organisation itself. She is a passionate advocate of justice and equality, responds positively to requests for help and is extremely supportive and encouraging of the Dóchas team.

Anna is very family orientated and likes reading and walking and is known to avoid cooking at all costs.

Chantal Sciberras, Head of Policy and Advocacy

Chantal joined Dóchas as Head of Policy and Advocacy in May 2025. Her background is in diplomacy, international relations and public policy, and prior to joining Dóchas she was Head of Europe at the Commonwealth Secretariat, whilst also responsible for policy development and coordination for the Commonwealth Meetings of Heads of Government and Ministers for Foreign Affairs.

Chantal served as a diplomat for the government of Malta for over 15 years, working in various positions and covering a broad range of policy areas. Her career included postings in London, Dublin and Berlin, also serving as Director for Global Issues, as Malta held its first ever Presidency of the European Council.

Niall McDonald, Head of Communications and Media

Niall is a highly experienced media professional who has spent the last 15 years working in some of the biggest newsrooms in the world. He has a deep knowledge of Irish, UK, European and U.S. Politics, and has spent his career helping to interview some of the biggest names in the world, from the French President to British Royalty.

He has covered world events including the Arab Spring, Brexit, the Trump Presidency and the Covid Pandemic for Sky News, the Associated Press and CNN. He has been involved in the coverage of three US Presidential elections, three UK elections and was a key member of the production team for CNN's coverage of the Brexit referendum, which was broadcast in more than 200 countries. In 2021 Niall returned home to Ireland to produce 'The Tonight Show', on Virgin Media. He has also worked in Public Affairs with Rockwood.

Gillian Ivory, Head of Membership Engagement

Gillian joined Dóchas as Head of Membership Engagement in November 2022. She has worked in programme management roles with a number of non-profits in Ireland, Cambodia and South Africa, and has taught BA students in the Department of International Development at Maynooth University. Gillian also spent a number of years in business and communications working with clients in the private and public sectors, and as a freelance journalist has written for publications in Ireland, the UK and Canada. She holds a Masters Degree in International Development, a postgraduate diploma in Business and a BA in Hispanic Studies.

Claudia Lynch, Worldview Project Manager

Claudia joined Dóchas in March 2024 as the project manager of Worldview, a public engagement research project focused on tracking attitudes to overseas development aid within Ireland. With a background in policy, research, effective communications and reporting, Claudia has previously worked for the UNDP Crisis Bureau Geneva and UN Somalia in research roles. She supported the creation of the first ever UNDP policy brief on disability inclusive disaster risk reduction and resilience building and was the research assistant on a novel disability data collection and needs assessment in Somalia, working remotely on the pilot location of Kismayo to support the National Disability Agency.

Claudia has a keen interest in research, evidence based decision making, and the inclusion of marginalised cohorts. She holds an M.Sc. in Development Practice and a BA in Geography and Sociology, both from Trinity College Dublin. 

Kate Ryan, Programme Support Officer

Kate joined Dóchas in February 2025 as Programme Support Officer. Kate has a BA in History from University College Dublin and later a Master in International Relations in Historical Perspective from Utrecht University specialising in European Integration.
Previously Kate worked as an EU project intern at an education based human rights NGO in Amsterdam. During this time she assisted in the research and development of EU horizon project proposals.