I met Mal in 2009 when I was working at the British Council on the the old Youth for Europe programme and now, for the UK at least, the ill-fated Erasmus programme. One of my hats was Outreach Officer for groups trying to access the programme. As I discussed many times with Mal, I was sure I was only given that role because I had a south London accent. Whatever the reason, by happy coincidence I met Mal.
From the first meeting we struck up a friendship that would last. We were both from Lewisham and had a similar philosophy on life.
What I soon learned is Mal put young people at the centre of things always. He asked them what they thought, then encouraged them to be what they wanted to be and supported them to do that.
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