Joshua Abrams Email & Phone Number

Washington D.C.

I lead multi partner civic advocacy initiatives to pass strong public health legislation in countries across Europe, Eurasia, and Asia. These efforts have led to significant policy change in over a dozen countries, including new tobacco control laws and regulations in Russia (2009-present), Ukraine (2012-present), Kosovo (2013), Moldova (2015/2019), Belarus (2016), Romania (2016/2022), Slovenia (2017), Georgia (2017/2019/2021/2022), Mongolia (2018), Tajikistan (2018), Turkey (2019/2020), Uzbekistan (2019), Armenia (2020), Kazakhstan (2020), Kyrgyzstan (2021), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2022). Also wins road safety policy (Russia 2016), and cardiovascular health policy (Turkey 2020, the Philippines 2021).Many former staff and grantees have gone on to national or international prominence as government officials, legislators, recognized experts, and influential advocates.

Moscow, Russian Federation

I led a 4-year, $7,500,000 USAID project and managed six-person staff to disburse approximately $900,000 per year in grants for projects helping to improve civic engagement with authorities throughout Russia, and leading to improvements in services and quality of life. I also designed and led the technical assistance that helped grantees build skills and expertise as self-sustaining advocacy organizations, able to represent the needs of their constituencies. This included an organizational assessment process for identifying needs among grantees, to better target technical assistance, and organizing conferences and training seminars for all grantees and stakeholders to share best practices and communicate with government.

Tajikistan

I led a 2-year, $900,000 USAID project, overseeing the management of forty-two advocacy grants projects and thirty voter-education grants projects. Most of the projects we funded helped to support underserved communities across the country, including small-scale infrastructure improvements, government-provided services, employment opportunities, and consumer protection. I organized skills-building opportunities to Tajik NGOs that improved the capacity to work with communities and decision makers, including trainings, exchanges, and conferences.

Kazakhstan

Directed external communications initiatives for Almaty, Tashkent, and Bishkek Foundation offices. Created and managed all print and electronic content for foundation’s Central Asia programs, including website redesign and designing and publishing news bulletins. Initiated fundraising activities, increasing foundation visibility among potential donors and partners, and researching funding opportunities. Organized all foundation-related public events, including domestic and international conferences and press events, for all country offices.

Chimkent, Kazakhstan

Established university-based environmental NGO with South-Kazakh Technical University Ecology Department faculty. Created faculty library of contemporary environmental information in Russian. Trained university faculty on methods of information gathering and grant-writing. Designed and taught courses on environmental issues, in English and Russian. Created ecology summer camp for Kazakhstani middle school students. Designed and led teacher-training seminars. Advised students on applying to US scholarships and universities. Provided Russian-English translation services for university faculty.

Master Of Public Administration (Mpa), International Environmental Policy

Master Of Arts (M.A.), Russian, Central European, East European And Eurasian Studies

Activities and Societies: Graduate Assistant, Inner Asian and Uralic National Research Center, Indiana University, 2000-2001.

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), Environmental Studies, Russian Studies

Activities and Societies: Attended Herzen State Pedagogical University, St. Petersburg, Russia, September-December 1991. Bard College.

Summer School In Global Trade And Human Rights.

International post-graduate program.

Russian Language And Literature

Language exchange program with Bard College.

Education record