Webinar: Redefining Local Capacity Strengthening .

Local leaders discussed how international aid agencies and implementing organizations can best support local organizations to deliver their own vision for success and elevate local ownership and sustainability of results.

April 19, 2023

This webinar convened representatives from local implementing organizations, USAID, and other key stakeholders to advance the dialogue on locally-led development in the context of USAID’s 2022 Local Capacity Strengthening Policy. Local organizations shared their perspectives and experiences on how international donor assistance supported them to define their vision for success. 

This was a virtual discussion, with simultaneous interpretation in Arabic, English, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese. 

Recordings

• Webinar Recording (Arabic)
• Webinar Recording (English)
• Webinar Recording (Ukrainian)
• Webinar Recording (Vietnamese)

Speakers

David Jacobstein
Democracy Specialist
DCHA/DRG Foreign Policy Coordination and Integration Team, USAID
David Jacobstein serves as a Democracy Specialist in the Policy Coordination and Integration Division of the Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance Center, where he focuses on issues of capacity development, systems thinking, political economy, and cross-sectoral integration. Previously, he worked for Pact and the American Bar Association supporting civil society strengthening and rule of law programming across Africa, Europe, and Asia.

Maroun Khreich
Associate Professor
Lebanese University/AWFA
Maroun Khreich is an Associate Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies. He holds a Ph.D. from the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (E.P.H.E)- Paris. He has participated and co-directed several archaeological missions in Lebanon and abroad. Dr. Khreich is highly concerned with cultural heritage preservation and promotion as well as their impact on the local communities. He is a scientific advisor and consultant for several municipalities and local communities for the assessment and enhancement of their historical, archaeological and cultural legacy. He is a member of AWFA and worked on the implementation of Darb Ain Ebel (a USAID-funded project) and is now co-directing it.

Kreshnik Kurtishi
Chief of Party 
USAID/Kosovo Economic Governance Activity
Kreshnik Kurtishi is a legal and regulatory expert and manager with over 15 years of experience supporting the Government of Kosovo with the development of a sustainable legal and regulatory environment that fosters private sector led economic growth. Throughout his career, he has supported efforts aimed at developing a business enabling environment in a variety of areas, including business registration and company law, permitting and licensing, business inspections, construction permitting reform, construction legalization, public financial management, and public procurement. He has also supported the structuring and launching of Public Private Partnership transactions aimed at attracting private investment into the Kosovo economy in areas such tourism, transportation, road infrastructure and other public services and infrastructure.

Le Hong Minh
Foundation Management Board Member
Start-Up Vietnam (SVF) under USAID/ Vietnam Strengthening Provincial Capacity Activity
A critical inspirational figure of SVF, Le Hong Minh always shared about her not finding the value of happiness till she realized her mission to focus on supporting and developing people. Her passion is to bring Vietnam to shine on the world map with the competitive value of the new generation of technology and sustainable, innovative business models. She has over 20 years of experience in economic development consulting, business strategy & strategy implementation consulting, organizational culture development, local capacity development planning, and budgeting for the public and private sectors. Her role as technical lead, public-private dialogues facilitator, capacity-strengthening program designer, executive coach, and performance coach has significantly contributed to the success of many of SVF’s consulting projects and development programs funded by local and international organizations.

Laura Pavlovic
Deputy Director
USAID Democracy, Rights and Governance Center
Laura Pavlovic is a Deputy Director of the Democracy, Rights and Governance (DRG) Center in USAID/Washington, which leads technical assistance, training, and evidence and learning to advance USAID’s global DRG efforts.  She began her USAID career in 2005 in USAID’s East Africa regional mission, where she managed USAID’s post conflict transition assistance program in Burundi. She has also served overseas in Ukraine, Serbia, and the Regional Development Mission for Asia in Bangkok, Thailand. Laura also served in the DRG Center from 2012-2015 as the Division Chief of the Cross-Sectoral Programs Division, where she oversaw Agency efforts to integrate DRG principles and practices across sectors. Ms. Pavlovic has a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of Pennsylvania. She served as Editor in Chief of the Harvard Human Rights Journal, and has published on media development and transitional justice challenges in the Balkans.

Jennifer Swift-Morgan
Senior Advisor, Democracy & Governance 
Chemonics International
Jennifer Swift-Morgan is an education and governance specialist with more 20 years of experience designing, managing, and evaluating innovative programming in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. Her expertise includes education systems strengthening for learning, assets-based political economy analysis to inform public service delivery reform, and applied research for iterative program adaptation. Jennifer served as technical director of USAID’s All Children Reading activity in Senegal, recognized as one of the most effective large-scale early grade reading programs in the world. She is currently a senior advisor for Chemonics’ Democracy and Governance Technical Practice. Previously, Jennifer worked for USAID, KfW Development Bank, Columbia University’s Earth Institute, Education Development Center, and the National Democratic Institute. A 2020 Fulbright U.S. Scholar, she holds a doctorate in international education policy from Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Ruslan Tormosov
Executive Director, Municipal Development Institute
USAID/Ukraine Democratic Governance East
Ruslan Tormosov has 10 years of experience managing the All-Ukrainian Charitable Organization Municipal Development Institute, which has successfully served as a sole implementer for 20 grant projects amounting to $10 million. He also has experience in managing large-scale international technical assistance projects (more than 10 projects have been successfully implemented since 2012) and has authored over 50 articles in academic and professional magazines and academic collections and 9 manuals and textbooks.