Big interview: The hands-on grant-maker - Sukhvinder Stubbs, director, Barrow Cadbury Trust

Eventually persuaded that Alisha will not be causing trouble, the guards let her in, as possibly the youngest delegate at the conference.

Stubbs is currently taking adoption leave from her role as chief executive of grant-giving body the Barrow Cadbury Trust, but that doesn't stop her from continuing to lobby politicians and giving a voice to the projects funded by the trust. The Barrow Cadbury Trust gave out grants of about 2.4m in 2004 to projects that meet its aim of encouraging a fair, equal, peaceful and democratic society. These include projects such as conflict-resolution programmes Leap Confronting Conflict and Young Disciples; Scholar International, an educational programme for young people; and Right Track, a Children's Society project that aims to address the over-representation of Black and minority ethnic under-18s in youth justice.