AFG

International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Senior Communications Advisor, Kabul/Afghanistan (November 2013 – present)

Duties: Provide technical assistance to the newly established Independent Election Complaints Commission (IECC); Support the IECC in the planning, design and implementationof a voter education campaign to inform voters and candidates of all aspects of the electoral complaints process and how they can access it; Develope the capacity of IECC staff - via hands-on assistance, workshops and other trainings - to undertake regular, proactive reporting and dissemination of information on the electoral complaints process; Developing a user-friendly IECC website; Advice and assist the IECC Spokesperson and external relations staff on how to effectively provide information to all election stakeholders, such as media outlets, political parties, civil society organizations, donors and international community.

ARM

I was invited by the German Foreign Ministery to be short-term election observer in Armenia.

It was the first time for me to participate in an Election Observation Mission.

All the years before I was occupied in Technical Assistance with the UN or IFES.

KOS

International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Civic Education and Public Outreach Specialist, Pristine/Kosovo (August 26, 2012 – November 10, 2012)

Duties: Identify the civic and voter education needs in Kosovo, and the ways in which these needs can be met in the future throughout the electoral cycle.

Identify the key objectives for civic and voter education activities through the electoral cycle.

Identify groups of voters who may require targeted civic and voter education activities in order to educate and mobilize their participation.

Write a plan for the conduct of civic and voter education in Kosovo, incorporating the role of the Central Election Committee (CEC), civil society, political parties and the media.

Develop key messages in relation to the constitutional and electoral reform processes, as well as key issues related to voters’ understand of the electoral process and perceptions of the CEC.

Identify and work with sub-awardees (Civic Society Organizations) contracted to deliver civic education campaigns to define and refine messages and civic education materials to be used.

Coordinate more then 1200 civic education events to various target groups, such as Youth, Women, Minorities, Blind and Visually Impaired.

Review the initial conduct of civic education campaigns by sub-awardees and advise on potential improvements.

Organize press conferences to raise campaign awareness throughout the country.

MLD

International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Civic Education and Public Outreach Specialist, Chisinau/Moldova (October 2010)

Duties: Provide technical support to the Central Election Committee of Moldova in development and implementation of an effective and sustainable voter education/ public outreach and media campaign for the Parliamentary Elections on November 28, 2010.

Assist in the development of public outreach products for the electoral events.

Assist in writing technical specifications for the sub-contracting of Voter Education material development and take part in the review of proposals.

Coordinate the IFES-funded activities between the CEC and IFES subcontractor.

Review the content, impact and quality of the public outreach components prepared by the IFES subcontractor.

KOS

International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Civic Education and Public Outreach Specialist, Pristine/Kosovo (November – December 2010)

Duties: Provide technical support to the Central Election Committee of Kosovo (CEC) in development and implementation of an effective and sustainable voter education/ public outreach and media campaign for the Snap Parliamentary Elections on December 12, 2010;

Assist in the development of public outreach products for the electoral events;

Coordinate the IFES-funded activities between the CEC and IFES subcontractor;

Review the content, impact and quality of the public outreach components prepared by the IFES subcontractor;

Acted as a non-voting member of the CEC’s Approval Commission and provided the members with advice on how to develop and implement a nationwide Public Outreach Campaign including all ethnic minorities in Kosovo;

Provided hands-on assistance to the CEC’s External Relations Department in order to improve the capacity of its management as well as of its staff members in dealing with the media.

IRQ

International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Media and Public Outreach Specialist, Baghdad/Iraq (September 2009 – July 2010)

Duties: Advise the Iraqi High Electoral Commission (IHEC) on planning, design and implementation of voter education/public information strategies and campaigns for the March 7, 2010 Counsel of Representatives Elections and future electoral projects – governorate, municipal elections, constitutional and Kurdistan referenda and/or other electoral events;

Advise and assist the IHEC in coordination with other organizations involved in the public outreach campaigns, including media, CSO, international donor community and other electoral stakeholders;

Provide advice to the IHEC on institutional design, structure, objectives and areas of responsibilities, particularly of the Public Outreach Division at HQ and GEO levels;

Assist the IHEC in designing a short-term operational plan and timeline for anticipated electoral projects, as needed;

Review the content, impact and quality of the media outreach products.
Advise the IHEC on governorate/municipal election public outreach strategy and plan; in coordination with Public Outreach Division management draft a timetable for upcoming electoral events;

Draft and discuss with the IHEC proposals for an optimal Public Outreach Division structure and recruitment of qualified staff, ToRs and areas of responsibility and quality assurance of the division’s work.

LBN

International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Media and Outreach Specialist, Beirut/Lebanon (February-May 2009)

Duties: Draft a Polling Station Handbook for the Lebanese Ministry of Interior to support and facilitate the training of polling officials and their work on Election Day.

Develop a procedurally and information-based public and media campaign for the Lebanese Ministry of Interior and Municipalities to inform 3.2 million eligible voters to check their registration data.

The campaign included the development of creative ideas and concepts of a TV, radio and newspaper advertisements, as well as 250.000 flyers, 500.000 SMS text and 1.8 million email messages.

Liaise and negotiate with state-owned and independent media outlets to secure the most favorable schedules and costs for broadcasting the campaign advertisements, as well as organizing and implementing a strategy for disseminating advertisements in a timely fashion.

AFG

United Nations Development Program / UNOPS – Spokesman/External Relations and Media Liaison Officer, Kabul/Afghanistan (June 2004 – June 2005)

Duties: Make and maintain close contacts with journalists and media organizations (radio, television, media NGOs, newspapers, magazines and other printed publications).

Develop media strategies to widely promote the work of the Electoral Commission and its goals.

Training local staff to establish a national election-related external relations/communication team.

Organize press conferences and other public events.

Provide the media with accurate and timely information about Voter Registration and Elections.

Be on call to respond to questions posed by journalists through telephone, email, and visits.

Respond immediately to erroneous information distributed by the media.

AFG

Internews (NGO) – Resident Adviser, Kabul/Afghanistan (April-October 2002)

Duties: Organize various training courses for journalists.

Conduct training for Afghan radio journalists from regional stations.

Hold seminars at the Journalism Faculties of Kabul University and Herat University.

Build relationships with Afghan regional radio stations.

Made and maintained close contacts with relevant Afghan ministries.

Trained government officials in different components of external relations, such as publishing newsletters, interview techniques and ways of informing the media/public of governmental activities and political goals.

CHN

China Radio International – Language Expert German Service, Beijing/China (2001)

Duties: Announcer/Producer of weekly one hour news summery about Germany - covering politics, economic and cultural events.

Skills

Languages

Fluent: English, German, and Turkish.

Conversational: French and Mandarin.

Basic: Farsi and Korean.

Computer: MS Office, Photoshop, Video and Photo Editing. Web Content Management

Licence: Car, Motorcycle, Boat.

Nationality: German and Turkish.

Rules of Life: "Treat others like you want to be treated"....and..."If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing well"