About Us

Neil Atherton, BA (Hons) ACMA

Country Director

Prior to coming to Azerbaijan in September 2007 as Finance Director and from January 2008 as Country Director, taking over from Nick Ensor, Neil was an active board member with CARD for three years in London. Additionally he has experience of working on two other boards for small UK charities on a voluntary basis – within the education and youth area and also housing. In a professional capacity Neil is a qualified management accountant with significant experience within the retail sector and more recently the not-for-profit sector whilst working for one of the largest minority ethnic community focussed housing associations in the UK.

Lucy Atherton, MSc, ACS Dip, Cert. Mem. RCSLT

Children’s Development Manager

Lucy’s professional background includes work within the British National Health Service and Education systems. She has experience of a range of Special Educational Needs and is passionate about multi-disciplinary working for the benefit of the child (working collaboratively with a range of different professionals with different perspectives and experience). She is a state registered Specialist Speech and Language Therapist with extensive experience within the specialist field of deafness and language/communication delay. So she can also use British Sign language to a pre-level 3 standard and is used to working in another language! Lucy has been involved in CARD since its beginnings in one way or another. Lucy spent 3 months working with CARD’s Children’s Welfare Programme back in the Autumn of 2001. She was a Trustee for CARD between January 2005 until July 2007.

Sevil Abbasova

Operations manager and Vocational training co-ordinator

Sevil runs and has been part of the implementation of the vocational training school in Genja and has a role in representing all of the operations of CARD to local authorities . Sevil has worked for CARD since September 2001 and has had many years of experience working for foreign NGOs in government institutions and through aid programmes. Sevil has also worked as a lecturer of Economics at the Genja Agriculture Institute.

Mental Health Programme co-ordinator - post currently vacant

Peri Mirzeyeva

Childrens Welfare Programme co-ordinator

Peri has worked for CARD since April 2008 after our previous co-ordinator, Dilshard, moved to one of our partner organisations SOS in Genja. Peri previously worked as a journalist in Baku, but has much experience with babies having a 4 year old son herself.