Our Staff

Executive Director

Lorraine Swift

lorena@changeforchildren.org

Lorraine is the Executive Director of Change for Children Association (CFCA) where she has worked since July 2002. Originally as Projects Coordinator and now as Executive Director, Lorraine leads the organization’s ambitious fundraising program, as well as manages Change for Children’s communications and overseas development programs. Working to build and strengthen partnerships that evolve between communities across Canada and communities throughout the developing world, Lorraine has led the organization through a process of growth and specialization in themes such as technological innovation, sustainable resource management, gender equality and indigenous rights.

Lorraine plays a pivotal role in the International Development CSO community in Alberta and across Canada and served as the Treasurer of the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation from September 2012 to September 2016. Currently, Lorraine represents small and medium sized CSOs on the Civil Society Organizations’ Partnerships Advisory Council for Global Affairs Canada.

Previous to her work with Change for Children, Lorraine lived in Managua, Nicaragua for almost four years where she worked as a CUSO Co-operant on various initiatives promoting territorial rights and self-government with the Miskito and Mayagna indigenous peoples of the BOSAWAS Biosphere Reserve, (which they have since obtained).

Lorraine has a bachelor’s degree in Native Studies from the University of Alberta and previously held various positions with groups working in Alberta’s environmental movement, and also worked with the Little Red River Cree in northern Alberta on cultural cartography and land management research. Lorraine is currently studying a Graduate Diploma in International Development through the University of London’s School of Economics and a Women in Leadership Certificate Program through Cornell University’s College of Business.

See more about Lorraine on Linkedin.

International Projects Manager

Adrienne Wiebe

adrienne@changeforchildren.org

Adrienne is an applied anthropologist who has worked for over 25 years with marginalized communities in Latin America and Canada. She brings her experience as a settlement counsellor with Central American refugees, project coordinator for a Canadian NGO in Guatemala, multicultural program coordinator in the Alberta healthcare system, indigenous health liaison for Alberta Health Services, policy analyst in Mexico, and monitoring and evaluation specialist for women’s rights and gender equality.

Adrienne is passionate about integrating continuous collective learning and community-based practice in ways that improve the effectiveness and influence of our work for human dignity, healthy communities and global justice. Adrienne holds an M.A. in Geography with field research on the informal economy in Quito, Ecuador. Her doctoral research (PhD Anthropology) was a participatory ethnographic study with three generations of Maya-Mam women in Comitancillo, Guatemala. She has authored and co-authored journal articles and book chapters on issues related to gender and development, cultural competency, maternal-infant health, and Central American migrant women in the sex-trade.

In the 1990s, Adrienne and her husband, Arturo Avila, worked as community-development facilitators in Comitancillo, Guatemala for four years supported by several Edmonton NGOs, including Change for Children. During this time, they helped establish AMMID, the local community-based organization that is one of Change for Children’s key partner organizations today. Adrienne is excited to be working with the former beneficiaries/recipients as peers and colleagues in the work for social justice and well-being. “This is what it is all about!”

Communications Coordinator

Nicole Farn

nicole@changeforchildren.org

Nicole Farn began working for Change for Children in 2013 after serving on the Board of Directors for three years. Nicole’s desire to learn more about international development took her around the world in 2009 gaining experience with a number of NGO’s in Central and South America, East Africa, and Southeast Asia. Nicole has a love of writing, with a desire to share peoples’ stories, especially the stories of people who often go unheard.

Olivia Krol

Office Manager and Administrative Assistant cfca@changeforchildren.org

Olivia has lived and worked in Spain and Latin America, having spent part of her childhood in Costa Rica. Her passion for the Spanish language, connection to Latin culture, and her desire to be part of an organization she believes in, led her to Change for Children where she began working in 2018. Apart from providing administrative support at CFCA, Olivia studies languages, dances salsa professionally, and plans her next globetrotting (or baking) adventure.