Professional Experience:
I have 12 years of overseas international development experience. For 10 years of those years I worked at the country/COP or project manager level with the following organizations: Pact, Counterpart International, International Republican Institute, Abt Associates, International Executive Service Corp and International Fund for Election Systems. These posts have all combined senior technical responsibility and senior field operations/representational responsibilities.
My technical skills are broad and include work with various groups: civil society organizations, political parties, SME's, elected and appointed officials of local, regional and national government. I have six years experience managing democracy and governance projects which have included capacity building or improved skills in the following areas: advocacy, image-making, communications, constructive dialogue, conducting/using research, and constituent relations. I have experience working in varied sectors of civil society including: vulnerable social groups, health, environment, legal/human rights reform, migration/economic issues, elections, political reform. In work with SMEs and in work with civil society I have conducted needs assessments and designed interventions to correspond to needs.
As an accomplished COP, I have experience managing all phases of the project from the design to implementation, monitoring, reporting, coordination with donors and other organizations, managing implementing and local partners, and financial and operations management. In offices I have managed, I established operational (procurement and finance) systems that were compliant with donor requirements, organizational policies, and local laws. I have a good working knowledge of USAID regulations and of local legal compliance issues in the region where I have worked. I have successfully started up and closed projects and offices, including registration, hiring and training of staff.