PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
SAVE THE CHILDREN
Iraq Country Director January 2013 – January 2014)
Lead a team of 125+ Iraqi and expatriate colleagues who work with communities, including Syrian refugee camp and non-camp communities, nationwide to implement a $10 million-plus (2013) project portfolio for child protection and child rights promotion, youth and women’s livelihoods development, education and humanitarian response (Iraqi IDP as well as Syrian refugee); oversee key partnerships with bilateral and UN donors, and with a variety of national and local government and non-government (NGO) agencies.
Significant accomplishments to date
Scaling up of response team for growing Syrian refugee influx into northwest Iraq (Kurdistan region)
Strategic right-sizing of staffing to correlate with program portfolio and increased Iraqi leadership roles and responsibilities
Aligning safety and security management protocols with current expatriate staff profile/locations, and with current security situation
Azerbaijan & Georgia Country Director October 2009 – December 2012)
Led a team of 65 Georgian and Azerbaijani colleagues to work with NGO and community-based organizations in a variety of child protection, child/youth participation and livelihoods initiatives, including those addressing special needs and internally displaced children and youth; oversaw key donor and government partnerships to reform child protection legislation, policy and practice, particularly for institutionalized and disabled children and youth. Other projects addressed HIV awareness among youth and other at-risk populations in Georgia; on refugee health and outreach to disabled people in Azerbaijan; on outreach to youth in Georgia’s separatist Abkhazia region.
Significant accomplishments
strategic right-sizing of operations and assets and strategic reorganizing of program leadership
success in mentoring and supporting Georgian and Azerbaijani colleagues in leadership roles in groundbreaking child protection, family strengthening and disability rights and care initiatives
programs poised for impact at national and sub-regional (South Caucasus) scale