Staff Profiles - Asia and Eurasia

Kurt MacLeod Asia Regional Director, Cambodia

Areas of Specialization
microfinance, management information systems, agriculture, rural economic development, HIV/AIDS, renewable energy, institutionalization, policy, government-nongovernment relations

Countries worked in
Lao, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Nepal, Mongolia, Israel, Palestine, USA

Previous Postitions
Country Director, Myanmar, Pact; Program Associate, Pact HQ; Program Assistant, Cambodia, Pact; Project Assistant, National Planning Association, USA; Research Coordinator, Forestry School, Nepal; Community Development Worker, Peace Corps, Nepal; Sanitation Education Coordinator, Solida Waste Department, Washington State, USA; Small Farmer Marketing Technician, Washington State University Extension, USA; Program Assistant, HIV/AIDS clinic, USA; Activities Director, Bethlehem Ophanage, Palestine

Education
MA, Economics, Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS); Ecological Horticulture, University of California; HIV Counseling, Washington State Department of Health and Human Services; Master Gardner, Washington State University; B. Sc., Agriculture, Cornell University.

Languages
Lao, Nepali, Spanish

Publications
Exit Strategies: Transitioning from International to Community-Based Organizations, Holloway, Richard and MacLeod, Kurt (Senior Writer). Pact Publications, New York.1997. Program Resource Handbook.Pact Headquarters, Washington, DC. 1996. Microcredit As An Answer to Economic Development. Social Change and Development Program, School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C. 1996. The European Union's Development Methodology's Influence on Cambodia's International NGO Sector. Social Change and Development Newsletter. Social Change and Development Program, School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C.1995. People and Parks: A Paradigm Shift in Ecological Conservation. Kurt MacLeod and Michael Nerhbas.Social Change and Development Newsletter. Social Change and Development Program, School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C.1995. Presentations: Impact Assessments using MicroAssess, Organizational and Financial Assessments for Nascent Microfinance Institutions, Microfinance Impact Assessment Workshop, Ford Foundation, Sussex University, 2000. Moving from Microfinance Project to Microfinance Institution, Microfinance Workshop on Regulations for Asia, World Bank Institute, Manila, Philippines, 2000. Banking On Youth in Vietnam, Microfinance Workshop on Regulations for Asia, World Bank Institute, Manila, Philippines, 2000. MicroAssess, Organizational and Financial Assessments for Nascent Microfinance Institutions, Resources of the Poor Conference, Brandeiss University, USA, 1999. Microfinance Resource Mobilization. National Microcredit Summit. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. 1997. Community Response to HIV/AIDS. National Theme Group on HIV/AIDS. Vientiane, Lao PDR. 1997. Overview of Bangladesh's Microcredit Sector. PRIP Trust. Dhaka, Bangladesh. 1996. Program Assessment Tools: Introduction to Lessons in Field Techniques (LIFT) and Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool (OCAT). PVO Working Committee, Washington, D.C. 1996.

Debra Huls Chief of Party, Local Administration & Reform Program (LAAR), Cambodia

Areas of Specialization
Program administration, HR management, local governance, public health

Countries worked in
Egypt, Indonesia, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan

Previous Postitions
COP, Conflict Mitigation Program; State Director of Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, USDA/State of Oregon; Pact Country Rep, Indonesia; Pact Senior Advisor, Organizational and HR Development Senior Officer, USAID/Egypt.

Education
BS in Nursing, Public Heath; BS Business Administration, and Public Administration.

Languages
English, Spanish and taxi-talk in Arabic, Indonesian and Russian.

What gets me up in the morning
Anticipation of interactions with people who like to work hard and play hard . . . OR, time with nature.

Donna Stewart Country Representative

Areas of Specialization
Democracy building, civil society building, political party building, general program management

Previous Positions
Have worked in senior expat positions with International Republican Institute (Country Director Kazakhstan), International Executive Service Corps (Country Director Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan.  Have also consulted for Abt Associates and the World Bank (Azerbaijan).  Have also worked for Carana Corporation and International Foundation for Election Systems.

Countries worked in
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan

Languages
Russian, German, Kazakh, Tajik.

Education
B.A. in Russian and Soviet Studies from the University of Arizona, Candidate of Historical Sciences from the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan

What gets me up in the morning
Preferably a sunbeam; more often the alarm.

Tracey Naughton Country Representative, Mongolia

Areas of Specialization
ICT (including media) for development, behaviour change communication, radio and television broadcaster/presenter, radio and television station management, community participatory planning, research, evaluation and monitoring, advocacy, textile arts.

Previous Positions
Communication for development consultant 1989-2007, including Civil Society Media Representative to the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development and chairperson, United Nations World Summit on the Information Society's Civil Society Media Caucus

Countries worked in
Australia, 14 countries in Southern African Development Community (SADC), Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Mongolia, Switzerland, Tunisia.

Languages
Zulu, siPedi, rudimentary Portuguese, Malay, English

Education
Masters Advanced Social Research, Johannesburg University South Africa, 1999; Post Graduate Diploma in Community Development, Phillip Institute of Technology (now RMIT) Australia, 1988 Bachelor Fine Arts; Phillip Institute, Melbourne, Australia 1983

What gets me up in the morning
The tapestry of life and global inequity drives a compelling urge to get out there and do things that make a difference! Having said that, a good sleep in is always good for the soul too!!!

Fahmid Bhuiya Myanmar Technical Advisor

Areas of Specialization
Technical advisor for Pact Myanmar since summer 1998.

Worked for the PRIP Trust. Manager of finance and administration for Pathfinder International in Bangladesh.

Countries worked in
Myanmar, Bangladesh

Education
Masters of business administration from Dhaka University.

Languages
Fluent in Bengali and English.

Balazs Jarabik Chief of Party, Ukraine

Areas of Specialization
Civil society development, human rights, public policy

Countries of professional experience
Belarus, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

Previous positions
Pontis Foundation, Slovakia, Senior Program Officer, Development and Democratization Abroad; Freedom House Uzbekistan, Director, Human Rights Defenders Support Program; Freedom House Slovakia, Senior Program Officer, 2002 Parliamentary Election Program

Education
Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia (M.A from history); ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary (PhD studies in political science); Columbia University, New York, U.S. (visiting scholar/human rights)

Languages
Hungarian (mother tongue), Slovak, English, Russian (fluent), Serbo-Croatian (working knowledge)

What gets me up in the morning
The alarm clock helps. But that wouldn't be enough without enjoying my life and commitment toward my work.

Diana Measham Country Representative , Pact Vietnam

Previous Positions
Senior Program Associate, Family Care International (FCI); Staff Associate, Population Council. Long-term consultant to FHI, the Population Council, and the University of California/San Francisco (Women's Global Health Imperative). Short-term consultant to UNICEF, UNFPA, John Snow, Inc., FCI, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Areas of Specialization
HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, gender/empowerment/livelihoods, social epidemiology, qualitative and quantitative research, program development and management, monitoring and evaluation, health financing.

Countries worked in:
Bolivia, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Vietnam.

Education
DrPH specializing in epidemiology (gender and HIV), University of California, Berkeley; MSc (Economics) specializing in health planning and financing, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the London School of Economics (LSE); BSc (Economics) specializing in international development, LSE.

Languages
Fluent Spanish, once-upon-a-time intermediate French, emerging Vietnamese

What gets me up in the morning
A strong cup of Peet's, racing the clock to make the school bus, and the dynamism of HIV/AIDS work in Vietnam.

Xavier Alterescu Country Representative, Thailand / Mekong Region

Areas of Specialization
HIV/AIDS, NGO management and capacity building, organizational development, community-based initiatives, civil society, project management, public-private partnership, strategic planning, human resources development, financial management, social marketing, grants management, fundraising, research, monitoring and evaluation.

Countries of professional experience
Brazil, France. Short-term consulting in Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Haiti, Costa-Rica, USA.

Previous positions
Senior Program Officer, Management Sciences for Health, Brazil; Country Manager, Terre des Hommes Netherlands, Brazil; CEO and Chairman of the Board, Amazona, Brazil; Aids Program Officer, Essor, Brazil; Assistant to the International Finance Manager, Indosuez Bank, France

Education
Master of International Business, Ecole Superieure de Commerce et d'Administration des Entreprises, Clermont-Ferrand, France; Master of International Business Law, University of Paris, France

Languages
French, English, Portuguese, Spanish

What gets me up in the morning
First, the vision of my one-year old daughter smiling when I enter her bedroom. Then, the feeling that every new day means new opportunities for personal growth and for helping people be more happy.