Civic Advocacy Support Program

Anna Avagyan
Program Manager

Anna joined Counterpart’s Civic Advocacy Support Program (CASP) in December 2004 as an Office Manager. In April 2005 Anna moved to the position of Monitoring and Evaluation Associate and later, in March 2006, was promoted to the position of M&E Specialist. Before being a Counterpart team member, Anna worked at the Associates in Rural Development Incorporation Sustainable Water Resources Management Project funded by USAID as a translator/office manager.
Her primary responsibility at Counterpart is to follow up with project implementation of CASP funded organizations based on the defined indicators and project management plans as well as to provide assistance to partner organizations in the area of her expertise. Starting from July 2008 Anna was promoted to the position of Program Manager for the UNDP E-Parliament Program

Lusine Hakobyan
Senior Program Coordinator

Lusine coordinates several initiatives implemented by Counterpart International: CIVICUS Civil Society Index, Election Program and youth debates implemented jointly with Jinishyan Memorial Foundation and Youth for Achievement NGO. She has received her MA in political scientce and International Affairs from American University of Armenia (AUA) in 2006.
As part of a large team of administrative and programmatic professionals, Lusine is responsible for managing and coordinating various aspects of the election grants program, as well as the overall organization of and follow up on programmatic, administrative and technical assistance to grantees. Lusine organizes and coordinates all aspects of the grants process, including selection, awarding and monitoring activities conducted by a wide array of civil society organizations. She also coordinates the implementation of programming to meet project objectives and coordinates day-to-day program activities, in addition to providing support to CASP’s Intermediary Service Organizations to conduct financial oversight of grantee activities and provide grantees with technical assistance.

Susanna Hakobyan
Program Officer

Susanna joined the Counterpart International team as an associate of the Election Program in August 2007. Before joining the program she was intern with the Civic Advocacy Support Program implemented by Counterpart International. From July 2008 she is assisting with the implementation of the UNDP E-Parliament Program, as well as Yerevan Municipal Election grants program starting from March 2009. Susanna is responsible for managing various aspects of the program, as well as monitoring events and the overall follow up on programmatic and technical assistance to program. Her responsibilities as election team member are to assist in the preparation of programmatic documents and review programmatic and financial reports.

Rouzanna Harutyunyan
Program and Administrative Officer

Rouzanna joined Counterpart’s Civic Advocacy Support Program (CASP) in February 2007 as a Conference Consultant. From July 1st, 2007 she is a Program and Administrative Officer. Before joining Counterpart International, Rouzanna worked at USAID Armenia Legislative Strengthening Program (ALSP) for more than 5 years as an administrative assistant. She also used to work at UNESCO Chair in Life Sciences International Educational Centre, All-Armenian Research Council as an office manager/translator.

Ani Melikyan
Grants Manager

Ani joined CASP in October 2004 as the first staff member working with the program.
Having worked for three months as Office Manager, she then applied for the vacant position of CASP Program Assistant and was accepted to the CASP programmatic team. In February 2007 she was promoted to CASP Program officer.
Ani taught English, Armenian, and Russian languages for several years before joining CASP and worked two years with “Sretenka-Consul,” a Russian-Armenian Juridical Agency.
At present, alongside with other programmatic areas, Ani supervises CASP interns, providing them guidelines with regard to their day-to-day responsibilities and assignments within the program.

Mannik Sahakyan
Senior Training Specialist and Coordinator

Mannik joined the CASP team in February 2005. Mannik’s previous experience includes working as an instructor of Human Rights and Applied Economics as well as a trainer in the field of Communication and Management. After graduating with an MBA from the American University of Armenia, she worked as a marketing specialist at the State Jewelry Factory and a free lance trainer.
Mannik started at CASP as a Training Specialist and Coordinator and was quickly promoted to Senior Training Specialist and Coordinator. She is responsible for organizing and coordinating different events hosted by CASP as well as designing and implementing training modules on various substantive topics, especially training methodology. She is a founder and board member of the Professional Association of Trainers (PAT).

Alex Sardar

Chief of Party

Alex Sardar currently serves at the Chief of Party for the Civic Advocacy Support Program and is also the Country Team Leader of Counterpart International in Armenia.
Alex is an American of Armenian descent and has been living in Armenia for five years, working on USAID projects. Before joining Counterpart International, he served as the Deputy Chief of Party of the USAID Armenia Legislative Strengthening Program, working with the National Assembly of Armenia on strengthening internal processes of legislative work and constituency outreach.
His professional experience includes work in the United States House of Representatives, the California State Assembly, and as a community organizer and lobbyist in the US. Additionally, he volunteers and consults with several community-based organizations in Armenia and the United States. Alex holds a dual BA in English and German Literature from the University of California, at Berkeley, and attended the School of International Service at the American University in Washington, DC for his MA in International Relations. Alex joined the Counterpart Team in December of 2004 and is responsible for the overall implementation of projects.

Arsen Stepanyan
Advocacy Program Manager

Arsen Stepanyan is a civil society practitioner currently in charge of the advocacy program cluster of the Civic Advocacy Support Program. He has extensive experience in providing consultations to a number of governmental and non-governmental agencies on constituency relations, public participation in and transparency of decisio-making processes, and other civil society related matters. On the national level, he has worked with the Armenian parliament, different executive agencies, local government institutions, as well as media and nonprofit organizations.

Mane Tadevosyan
Program Consultant

Mane joined Counterpart International’s team as an intern, to conduct research supporting her thesis on the state of financial sustainability of Armenian NGOs. Currently she serves as a program consultant to the CIVICUS Civil Society Index (CSI) project implemented by Counterpart International, her primary responsibilities being - implementing and facilitating the primary research, in particular the organizational survey, the external perceptions survey and the population survey, leading focus groups and developing case studies in the framework of CSI project. Mane received her first MA from the Yerevan State University in 2008 (Department of Romance and Germanic philology), and her second MA from the American University of Armenia in 2009 (Faculty of Political Science and International Relations).