Kiran Kaur

●      Obama Foundation European Leader

●      UN Women UK CSW68 Delegate

●      Aspen Institute UK - Rising Leaders Fellow 

●      Chair of the Board of Trustees at Home Girls Unite

Kiran Kaur is the Co-founder and CEO of GirlDreamer, a UK non-profit organisation dedicated to addressing social and economic inequity by providing greater access to leadership and wellbeing opportunities for young diasporic women of colour. She holds the distinction of being the youngest Trustee at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in England and Wales. Currently, she serves as Chair of the Board at Home Girls Unite, a charity supporting firstborn daughters from immigrant families.

In addition to her leadership roles, Kiran has been recognised as a European Obama Foundation Leader and has served as a UN Women UK Delegate at CSW68. She is also an Aspen Institute UK Rising Leaders Fellow and an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Birmingham, where she is researching and assessing the impact of women’s development programmes and impact measurement frameworks.

Kiran has earned further recognition as 'UN Women UK - Person of the Year' and 'Social CEO Awards - Best Digital CEO', whilst GirlDreamer is 

hailed as one of Creative England's 'top 50 most creative, innovative, and disruptive companies in England'.

With over 10 years experience in the social sector, Kiran's journey from a volunteer mentor to co-founding her own organisation has been underpinned by her commitment to the freedom, accessibility and justice of underrepresented groups.

I’m deeply interested in gender and race equity, particularly through the socio-economic experiences of women of colour and underrepresented groups, and the power of lived experience leadership.

Additionally, I’m interested in how we can innovate and refine evaluation methodologies for third sector projects, developing nuanced, longitudinal evaluation measures to quantify the 'human experience value' (HEV) and capture the full spectrum of outcomes and impacts of women’s development project investments and interventions. My research project critically examines existing evaluation methodologies employed by major third sector funders, questioning their effectiveness in comprehensively reflecting the true impact of their initiatives. 

Furthermore, my research interests delve into the distinctiveness of women's leadership, particularly faith-based or value-based. I wish to explore the intersectionality of how gender, faith, values systems, and ethnicity uniquely shape leadership approaches, emphasising the power of lived experience. 

●   Obama Foundation European Leader

●   UN Women UK CSW68 Delegate

●   Aspen Institute UK - Rising Leaders Fellow 

• Chair of the Board of Trustees at Home Girls Unite