Tally Daphu
Senior Project Lead
Tally is a passionate changemaker with over a decade of experience driving systemic transformation. She has led initiatives spanning out of home care, mental health, climate action, family and domestic violence, housing and homelessness across the UK and Australia.
Tally works at the intersection of research, design, implementation and evaluation, partnering closely with people and organisations to navigate complex change and co-create learning experiences that build connection, collaboration, and lasting impact.
At ThirdStory, Tally brings a deep commitment to equity, learning, and impact. She believes meaningful change happens where policy, practice, and lived experience meet. With a strong focus on people and relationships, she supports government, philanthropy, organisations and communities to rethink how they work, challenge assumptions, and create spaces for new ways of working and the conditions for lasting, inclusive change.
At the heart of Tally’s work is a commitment to designing learning and collaborative spaces that help people navigate complexity together. Through co-design, systems thinking, and participatory approaches, she supports the development of strategies and practices that put people at the centre of transformation by shifting narratives, building capability, and making change that sticks. She also plays a key role in convening learning communities and networks, bringing people together across sectors to share knowledge, strengthen collaboration, and co-create place based strategies and cross sector responses to social challenges.
Prior to ThirdStory, Tally was a Senior Innovation Consultant at Innovation Unit UK from 2018 to 2023, before becoming part of our East Coast team in Australia in 2024. During this time, she led national programmes focused on system transformation and service innovation, designing and delivering learning strategies for several major initiatives including Living Well UK, the NHS England North Region Learning Network, and two flagship Department for Education (DfE) programmes: Strengthening Families, Protecting Children and the Families First for Children Pathfinder.
The DfE programmes were nationally significant policy initiatives designed to drive innovation and reform across the sector. In these roles, Tally published sector wide programme learning and worked closely with senior policy leaders in central government, providing strategic advice and support.
Before Innovation Unit, Tally spent several years at Shelter, a national housing and homelessness charity, where she held a variety of roles. Starting in frontline service delivery, she went on to manage complex projects and programmes across the UK, including the development and delivery of Shelter’s Legal Pro Bono Programme.
Tally holds a BSc (Hons) in Business Management, a diploma in Public Policy and Management and is a certified PRINCE2 Practitioner, bringing a strong foundation in project management and strategic delivery.