Gayane Mkrtchyan

To Gayane Mkrtchyan, civil society begins at the local level. It stems from the efforts of those who identify areas of injustice, intolerance, and impunity in society, and develop the solutions needed to solve them. 

Gayane has led a successful career spanning over 25 years, in the field of international development. She has worked with the Eurasia Partnership Foundation for 13 years, holding various positions ranging from Manager of Community and Youth Programs, to the Director of Civil Society Programs. EPF’s strategy for civil society encompasses nearly every aspect of development — from defining value systems to building capacity and strengthening CSO’s. 

As the Director of the Civil Society Programs at EPF, Gayane, together with her colleagues, have created and coordinated tools and programs that seek to strengthen the civil society through the use of creativity, innovation, and cooperation. 

Gayane has played a vital role in defining the creative and strategic visions of EPF for their institutional development and facilitating cross-sectoral cooperation between their many programs. She has initiated and successfully implemented confidence building projects for youth affected by conflict and is fully engaged in program administration with a wide range of duties including fundraising, monitoring, financial management, and change management. Gayane creates PR strategies, plans and executes large-scale education events, and administers grants and other competitions.

Gayane began her career as an educator, later working for the US Department of Agriculture’s Marketing Assistance Project in Armenia, where she designed initiatives aimed at poverty reduction, university development, support for agribusinesses, and the provision of social services for farmers, students, women, and children.

She thrives in multicultural settings and works cooperatively in interpersonal environments. She is highly creative in her ability to turn ideas and strategies into tangible results through both visionary and practical thinking skills.

Gayane graduated from V. Brusov Foreign Language Institute and has received additional professional training from a number of universities/institutions, including but not limited to: Texas A&M, Fresno State University, Ohio State University, Vermont State University, Kentucky State University, the Community Foundation of Northern Ireland, and the Food Agriculture Organization’s Working Party on Women. 

Gayane’s biggest virtue is her unceasing ability to learn, and her willingness to share her knowledge and expertise with everyone she encounters.

In addition to leading the Civil Society Development program, Gayane Mkrtchyan offers trainings and consulting to individuals and organizations in a wide range of themes. More information can be found here.