David Hillman – Changing the impossible

David Hillman – Changing the impossible

David Hillman learnt campaigning leading efforts to end Apartheid before going on to work on the campaigns to ban landmines and drop the debt and has considerable experience of bringing together the efforts of numerous non-Governmental actors to achieve change.

He is currently director of Stamp Out Poverty that has been working for a number of years on new sources of finance for development. Since 2005, David has led work for the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) and in February 2010 helped create the Robin Hood Tax campaign, a network of more than 100 UK charities, trade unions, faith organisations and green groups. This in turn helped spark Robin Hood campaigns in many countries including across Europe and the US.

As campaign coordinator of Landmine Action (1996 – 2000) he worked for the achievement of the Ottawa Treaty and UK legislation to ban the manufacture, transfer, sale and military use of landmines. As UK arm of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, he represented the organisation for the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. In 2000, he joined Drop the Debt as partner responsible for campaigns and mobilisation, playing a role in the cancellation of debt of the world’s poorest countries. He studied at UCS in London and is a graduate of the University of Kent at Canterbury.

In January 2013, 11 European countries were given the green light to implement the FTT. In September, David was awarded the 2013 Sheila McKechnie Achievement Award for Campaigning.