Katherine Zscharnagk
www.nesta.org.uk/team/katherine-zscharnagk/
www.nesta.org.uk/team/katherine-zscharnagk/
Programme Coordinator, A Fairer Start mission
Kat was the Programme Coordinator for the new A Fairer Start mission launched in February 2021.
Kat was the coordinator across three programmes within Government Innovation: the Government Innovation People Power team with their grantmaking through the Centre for Social Action; the Upstream Collaborative a learning network of innovating local authorities moving attention and resources upstream of service delivery; and the 2020 Democracy Pioneers Award programme, recognising 19 projects working to shake up civic participation in the UK – from musical theatre and lived experience in policy-making, to mini-publics debating the climate emergency.
Using the experience gained through her MSc in Global Politics from LSE, Kat has supported the team by providing exploratory research, report writing and blog series curation. Kat has been proactive in managing the relationship between worked with charities, civil society organisations and civil servants, and was the programme manager for four Awardees on the Democracy Pioneers Award Programme.
Kat began her career as the account and production manager of a manufacturing SME in Western Australia where she was instrumental in organisational growth and culture change. She is interested in alternative economies, participatory democracy and the intersection of local and global political economy. She wrote her Masters dissertation on the social solidarity economy.
