Mumtaza Abdurazzakova (She / Her)

Having over 20 years of senior management experience in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, I designed, implemented and lead USAID, USDOS, UKFCDO, EU funded positive youth development, education, female empowerment, governance, community development and social inclusion programs (valued at $96M) across Central Asia and Eastern Europe in such sectors as education, media and civil society, with a specific attention to some of the most cross-cutting issues, including access to education, technology/access to information, peacebuilding, women issues, capacity building and etc. I have also had an opportunity to run regional initiatives and coordinate large multi-project portfolios. Until April 2023 I served as program Director at Save the Children International, leading implementation of a $28.8M education portfolio in Afghanistan, including both, Education in Emergency and Development projects. The program tackles accelerated, inclusive, and ICT education, as well as teachers’ professional education, quality assurance, improving performance and learning, policy design, and gender and social inclusion mainstreaming in non-formal and formal, primary and lower secondary education settings. Previously, during 6 years, I lead Steps Towards Afghan Girls’ Educational Success (STAGES, Girls Education Challenge) and Leave No Girl Behind a flagship girls’ education programs in Afghanistan, funded jointly by UK FCDO and USAID and implemented by Save the Children International. Prior to that, I have been working with International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) in Ukraine (project funded by the Gates Foundation in partnership with USAID and Microsoft). Before joining IREX in Ukraine, I lead the USAID-funded Ministry of Women Affairs Initiative to Strengthen Policy and Advocacy project implemented by Asia Foundation in Afghanistan, prior that I managed Educational and Youth Leadership programs funded by different donors implemented by Relief International in Afghanistan. I have also served as IREX Country Director in Uzbekistan where I had the opportunity to run regional initiatives and coordinate large multi-project portfolios. The programs I managed in post-soviet Central Asia, in Afghanistan and Ukraine, helped to enrich my analytical expertise relevant to policy, my adaptability to different political settings, as well as problem solving technique and made me more consistent for potential positions in a complex and unpredictable conflict environment. I have substantive experience in building partnerships for project development, implementation and management of community protection and resilience programming. The programs I managed, covered mostly rural provinces, with thousands of communities (including marginalized groups, IDP’s and Returnees). I contributed to establishing productive cooperation with national and international NGOs, central and local governments, and private sector partners. I managed remote staff (nationals and expats) which were located in a quite far distance from central office, as well as recruited and coordinated project consultants. I have an extensive experience in managing field teams and liaising with local partners, donors and governments. Throughout this development work as well as my academic work I have gained strong interpersonal and mentoring skills in a multi-cultural environment. Across all of the positions I held, I served as primary liaison with the donors (USAID, US Department of State, FCDO, European Union Mission and private donors, such as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Microsoft) and collaborated with NGO sector coordination groups, regional and international organizations. Simultaneously, I established strong working relationships with senior government officials, including Presidents Administrative Affairs offices, executive and legislative branches of the government (MFA, Ministry of Women Affairs, Justice, Culture, Education, Social Affairs, ICT & Informatization), Parliaments, Commissioner on Human Rights, Heads of provincial departments of Education, Provincial Departments of Women Affairs, University Presidents and etc. In addition, I also achieved productive collaboration with the Governors of provinces and their administrations in all countries I worked in. I have a strong working knowledge of applied research methodologies. Regular impact assessments, as well as different types of surveys, situation analyses, feasibility studies and research in program’s impact component were conducted under my direct supervision. I am inclined to continually address the question of quality and program impact, and possess the ability to manage complex and challenging situations with a sound understanding and urge to empower and develop the capacity of national colleagues. Financial management was also a substantive part of my work throughout all programs and projects I worked for, since most of them had grants and sub grants components, under assistance to civil society organization, educational institutions, programs alumni, community groups and entrepreneurs. Throughout my diverse experiences, I have been strongly exposed to gender issues and development of relevant policies, and therefore, will give due importance to mainstreaming gender across all activities. For several years I served as a member of International Board of Experts for Gender Education for Commonwealth of Independent States. I possess Dr. of Science in International systems and global development /Political science from the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Uzbekistan and Ph. D in history from the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. I have served as an Associate Professor of International Relations and simultaneously published more than 20 articles and methodic guidelines, as well as three monographs. I conducted my academic research while working on Ph.D. at the University of Washington in Seattle; and my post-doctoral research at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies, Oxford University, UK. I enhanced and improved my conflict resolution skills through training offered at the Peace Building and Development Institute, School of International Service, American University in Washington DC.