ACADEMICS at Middlesex University are to present Helen Evans, former global head of safeguarding at Oxfam, with their UK Whistleblower Award.

The ceremony for the 2018 award will take place tomorrow at the university’s North London campus.

Last year Ms Evans, a former Labour county councillor, blew the whistle on the ‘systemic sexual exploitation and abuse’ perpetrated by Oxfam aid workers.

Oxfam has faced criticism over its handling of sex allegations relating to its workers in Haiti in 2011. The charity said last week it would use recommendations from an interim report to bolster ongoing improvements.

When Ms Evans worked at Oxfam she pleaded for more safeguarding investment before she quit in frustration in 2015.

She took her concerns to the Charity Commission, then went public with a TV interview in 2018 when the matter came to national attention following a Times investigation. Her disclosures, and those from others, led to two public inquiries.

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Ms Evans said: “The decision to whistleblow was the hardest decision of my life.

“Despite what’s happened I still believe in the charity sector and have confidence the vast majority of aid workers are there for all the right reasons. The sector though must change, and never again approach safeguarding with such complacency”.

Ms Evans is now chief executive of a medical charity.