Country Representative International Alert, Kyrgyzstan

Shakirat manages International Alert’s activities in Kyrgyzstan. Prior to joining Alert in early 2017, for over eight years she served for UNDP, initially as an Assistant Resident Representative with UNDP/Kyrgyzstan, responsible for overall coordination and management of UNDP programmes in Kyrgyzstan, and then as a programme officer and policy specialist in UNDP/HQ in NY, USA coordinating UNDP technical and financial support for crisis recovery and prevention in the CIS, eastern Europe and Arab states. Earlier in her carrier, Shakirat worked in several management positions for the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia (EFCA), latterly as an executive director managing three EFCA offices in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. She was instrumental in developing several strategic EFCA programmes, such as the Cross-Border Programme in the Ferghana Valley, the Central Asia–Russia Labor Migration Initiative and Higher Education Transparency.

Shakirat holds an MA in Education Administration from Drake University, US and an MA in Finance from the leading universities in Kyrgyzstan, and served as a Steering Committee member of the Grant Makers East Group in Brussels. She is an alumnus of the Muskie/Freedom Support Act graduate fellowship funded by the US government.