For the first time ever in a groundbreaking move, an international charity has appointed an 11-year-old CEO.

Shakira Rahman, from Walthamstow, has been made "kid boss" at international humanitarian charity Penny Appeal in a bid to bring a child's voice and insight to global problems.

The unexpected move from the charity came after a report was published by the Charities Commission which outlined that there is a lack of young trustees, meaning the 18 to 24 age bracket, in the charity sector.

The humanitarian charity decided to take this one step further and employed the 11-year-old mini chief executive officer.

Miss Rahman said: "I’d like to use my position to make sure young people who don’t have a voice are heard, and if people don’t listen then I’m going to shout until they do."

She will report directly to the charity's adult chief executive officer enabling her to share her ideas at an executive level.

Adult chief executive officer of Penny Appeal Aamer Naeem said: "A charity commission report found 92 per cent of charity trustees are between 55-64 years old.

"So, we are appointing the first child chief executive officer of a charity. We want her to have a real job that makes real change, arranged around school work of course.

"I think we have a great deal to learn from young people like Shakira.

"Not just by her bringing an insight into what children and young people attitudes are, but by strengthening the quality of discussion.

"She often says things that hit you right between the eyes and we need to be challenged."

The impressive 11-year-old will be providing a child's insight on a number of issues including feminism, domestic violence, Islamaphobia and poverty.

Chairman and charity founder Adeem Younis said: "Shakira believes change will happen, her energy is infectious and it brings out the eternal optimist in us that so many of us left behind in our childhoods."

Recently, Miss Rahman visited the orphan complex in Gambia build by Penny Appeal, where she attended school with the children and got to know them.

The "Kid Boss" said: "I was so excited to meet the children in Gambia, when I got there I spent a couple of days with them hanging out.

"They have breakfast at school as well as lunch, because some children come from poor families.

"When I was told one of the students called Fatima that some schools have breakfast in my country because children are coming to school hungry, she couldn’t believe that we have poor people in our country."

Penny Appeal is a relief and development organisation working in more than 30 countries to break the cycles of need and poverty.