Koulla is a qualified social worker and worked as a probation officer in England. She established the first 24-hour telephone helpline for women who were experiencing domestic abuse in Northern Ireland before she joined Include Youth in 1998 as Director (Chief Executive).

In 2015 she was appointed by the First and Deputy First Ministers to be the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, and her eight-year term ended in March 2023.

Koulla has been appointed by the Minister for Children in the Republic of Ireland to be the Chair of Oberstown Children Detention Centre. She has also been awarded the role of Honorary Professor of Practice by Queens University Belfast.

She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Barnardo’s UK, an Ambassador for the Administrative Data Research UK and is currently working as an Interim Chief
Executive and consultant.

After a long career in children’s rights advocacy and social work, Carolyne is now a barrister at The Barrister Group, specialising in family law, public law and actions against public authorities.

From 2000 to 2012, Carolyne led the Children’s Rights Alliance for England, driving campaigns for transparency in child prisons and initiating legal action against unlawful restraint. She played a key role in Lord Carlile QC’s inquiry into restraint, solitary confinement and strip-searching in child prisons and co-ordinated major submissions to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Carolyne founded Article 39 children’s rights charity in 2015 and was its director for ten years. In December 2024, Carolyne received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Nottingham. She gained the Sheila McKechnie Outstanding Leadership Award in 2020, and in 2017 she won the Social Worker of the Year Gold Award for Championing Social Work Values.

Kate is currently CEO of Freeda, Jersey’s only independent domestic abuse charity. She joined Freeda in October 2024, having previously chaired the Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce, delivering 77 recommendations to Government in November 2023, all of which have been accepted by key stakeholders.

Kate is a cultural change and human resources specialist by background. She began her career at EY UK before further developing her expertise in HR, organisational development and diversity, equity and inclusion at Lloyds of London. In 2008, Kate established HR consultancy, Arbre Consulting, and worked as an independent consultant until joining Freeda.

Kate holds a number of public and voluntary roles in the Island, including Co- Founder of the Diversity Network; Chair of the Jersey Community Relations Trust; Commissioner to the Jersey Appointments Commission; and member of the Management Committee to the Policy Centre Jersey.

Rachel is Senior Policy Adviser on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child at UNICEF UK, where she leads work aiming to strengthen protections for children’s rights in legal and policy frameworks across the UK and Crown Dependencies. Her expertise includes disability rights, children’s rights and incorporating international human rights standards into domestic law.

Rachel holds a Human Rights MA and has over 15 years’ experience spanning policy analysis, influencing and research in the human rights and social justice fields. She started her career in policy and campaigning roles for non-governmental organisations working on humanitarian response, the right to education and homelessness. Prior to UNICEF UK, Rachel held several positions at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, including monitoring human rights treaty compliance, and leading policy influencing, strategy development and statutory inquiries. She was also seconded to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse as a Policy/Project Lead.