Irina Lashkhi

• Managing a Project “Strengthening Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership Countries (Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus)” funded by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs (8 hours per week)
• Provide leadership, strategic and technical direction, and overall progject management.
• Serve as primary liaison to KAS and the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, manage relationships with relevant civil society counterparts and entities working on civil society development in Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus (including NGOs, professional associations, the private sector, and higher education institutions), and coordinate and collaborate as appropriate with other relevant donor programs.
• Oversee strategic work planning, performance management, strategic communications, and implementation of activities.
• Ensure program’s compliance with all relevant German Government and local laws, regulations, policies and procedures and provide contractual and budgetary oversight.
• Established effective communication among team members from Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus) for enhanced collaboration and successful project completion.
• Monitoring project performance to identify areas of improvement and make adjustments.
• Providing detailed project status updates to stakeholders and executive management.
• Meeting project deadlines without sacrificing build quality or workplace safety.
• Monitoring progress against established goals, adjusting schedules and resources as needed to keep project on track.
• Developing comprehensive project plans with clear timelines, milestones, and budget requirements, ensuring timely delivery of high-quality results.
• Preparing detailed reports on project status for stakeholders, ensuring transparency and alignment with objectives.
• Negotiating and managing third-party contracts related to project deliverables.

• Providing consultancy and project management work for various civil society organizations in Georgia and the USA, including but not limited to:

Eurasia Foundation DC, USA

The McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University (USA)

FHI 360 (USA)
International Budget Partnership (USA)

USAID Funded HICD 2020 Project (Georgia)

Goethe Institute, Tbilisi Georgia

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, South Caucasus office

PMO Georgia

Georgian Young Lawyer’s Association

Open Society Georgia Foundation

Europe Foundation (Georgia)

• Improving CSO program efficiency by streamlining processes and implementing best practices.
• Developing persuasive proposals for diverse projects, resulting in increased funding opportunities and organizational growth.
• Enhancing proposal quality by meticulously researching and analyzing project requirements and tailoring content accordingly.
• Contributing significantly to organizational growth through developing winning proposals that secured vital funds for various projects.
• Evaluating project outcomes to ensure effective use of resources and alignment with organizational and Project goals.
• Preparing comprehensive reports for donors, showcasing project achievements and highlighting future initiatives.
• Designing monitoring and evaluation frameworks to track project progress and measure success indicators.
• Implementing innovative solutions to address complex challenges faced by the communities served by the NGO.
• Developing successful fundraising strategies for the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) for increased financial support and resources allocation.
• Conducting thorough needs assessments, identifying areas of improvement for CSOs and designing appropriate interventions.

Review country chapters and write a brief report to share with other Editorial Committee members ofthe USAID’s Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index which reports annually on the strength and overall viability of CSO sectors in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Mexico. The CSO Sustainability Index is a tool developed by USAID to assess the strength and overall viability of CSO sectors in countries around the world.

The country chapters reviewed:

1) Armenia

2) Belarus

3) Georgia

4) Moldova

5) Russia

6) Ukraine

• Peer Reviewer of the Open Budget Survey Georgia

• Managed a $14 million USAID-funded civil society building program that has directly impacted public policy research, analysis and advocacy in Georgia through a combination of training, mentoring, and grant-making activities. “Policy, Advocacy, and Civil Society Development in Georgia Project”(G-PAC)
• Provided oversight and guidance on high-priority projects, ensuring their successful completion within budget and timeline constraints.
• Supervised and lead the day-to-day management of 14 G-PAC staff, including technical guidance and strategy, motivation and morale-building, monitoring and evaluation, individual performance management and evaluation, and programmatic goal-achievement across each component of the program.
• Overseeing a $5 million grant-making program, which included comprehensive and holistic technical assistance that supported grantees (CSOs) through financial support, mentoring, monitoring and evaluation, strategic training, and institutional capacity-strengthening.
• Collaborated and facilitated programmatic relationships between and among a wide range of international stakeholders - USAID, and international partners, including Columbia University in the City of New York, Arizona State University, and the University of Washington among others.
• Organized and managed contributions to work plan development, and completed quarterly and annual reporting.
• Increased program efficiency by streamlining processes and implementing new project management tools.
• Led team development and assisted in project management coordination.
• Facilitated coordination between departments by implementing shared project management tools.

• Designed and managed an annual programmatic budget of $1.5 million, including 1 Million CSO grant program portfolio.
• Directed funding priorities and managed grant-making processes for over 30 Tbilisi- based and regional Georgian organizations and more than 5 CSO coalitions, including Revenue Watch, a coalition that united organizations from Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Bulgaria.
• Analyzed donor, international stakeholder, local CSO, and government programmatic and budgetary trends to create annual and quadrennial evidence- based strategies and budgets to support democratization, good governance, and rule of law reform priorities.
• Preserved critical partnerships with senior government officials and orchestrated partnerships and programmatic collaborations between government and civil society organizations.
• Collaborated with a wide range of international stakeholders, including bilateral and private international donors such as USAID, EU, Eurasia Partnership Foundation and UN organizations.
• Spearheaded and managed in-house projects with CSO stakeholders in specific good governance strategic priorities, including budget transparency, anti-corruption, and freedom of information.

Examined the political systems and transformation processes in former USSR countries.