GAPS Coffee Chat with Counterpart International and Global Arts Corps

bios of our wonderful guests! We look forward to seeing you soon.
Counterpart International works in 28 countries around the world, helping people build better lives and more durable futures, community by community. They work across the social sector, building the capacity of leaders, organizations, and networks - our counterparts - to become solution creators in their own families, communities, regions, and countries.
Global Arts Corps: From Rwanda to Kosovo, Cambodia to the North of Ireland, Global Arts Corps has used the transformative power of theatre to bring together people from opposite sides of violent conflict, unrest and war in 17 countries in 4 continents, reaching over 100,000 audience members, and facilitating reconciliation workshops for over 15,000 participants.

Arlene Lear
In 2011, Arlene Lear transitioned from her role as Senior Vice President to Senior Advisor of Counterpart International. During her 37 years of experience in international development, 24 of them with Counterpart, she has demonstrated expertise in design, management and evaluation of multi-sectoral, civil society and NGO support initiatives in Eurasia, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Latin America. From 1992-2010, she had primary responsibility for building Counterpart's Civil Society Practice, leading the development and management of more than $175 million of civil society initiatives in 10 countries -- creating the institutional and leadership infrastructure to drive social and economic development in ways that are sustainable and give all citizens a voice in shaping the services and policies that govern their lives. She has experienced both the challenges and opportunities of working in conflict and post-conflict countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq; as well as experiential knowledge of the challenges and successes of ensuring that the rights and needs of marginalized groups such as women, people with disabilities, refugees, internally displaced persons, and ethnic minorities are heard and met. Throughout her career the projects under her leadership have proven the effectiveness of building local ownership of the development process through government, NGO and private sector partnerships that involve mutual investment for mutual gain and trust. Ms. Lear joined the Board of the Global Arts Corps seven years ago because of her belief in their mission of using the power of theater to shine a light on the psycho-dynamics of conflict that perpetuate hatred and revenge cycles over generations, and to enable empathy for “the other” as well as the perception of their humanity.

Anna Sahakyan
Anna Sahakyan is Counterpart’s Accountability and Transparency Director, providing technical leadership to the organization’s programs and new business teams and supporting the growth of Counterpart’s accountability and transparency programming. Prior to assuming this role, she served as Counterpart’s Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. Ms. Sahakyan is an experienced non-profit sector and international development professional with over 25 years of experience in community development, humanitarian aid, civil society, and governance programs. Ms. Sahakyan is recognized for her strong leadership skills, high-impact delivery, and success in managing community mobilization, advocacy, civic engagement, institutional development, and emergency relief programs. Ms. Sahakyan is an effective convener and institutional representative with multi-regional and sectoral experience, focused on leveraging industry-wide knowledge and best-practices in shaping programming, grant making, and operational policy and procedures. Ms. Sahakyan has spearheaded Counterpart’s work in support of Open Government Partnership (OGP) since 2011.
Ms. Sahakyan has regional expertise in Latin America, New Independent States (former Soviet Union), and Central and Eastern Europe, including ten years of experience in the field working with American Red Cross and UNHCR and serving as Counterpart’s Regional Representative and Chief of Party in Uzbekistan. Ms. Sahakyan holds a bachelor’s degree in Foreign Language and a master’s degree in Foreign Language and Psychology from Brusov State University in Armenia. She speaks English, Russian, Armenian, and Spanish.

Mark Granius
Mark Granius joined Counterpart International  in 2000. As Counterpart’s Civil Society and Local Development Technical Advisor on the Program Quality and Learning (PQL) team, Mark provides technical leadership to Counterpart field programs, leads the design of new programs, and creates new technical learning products in a wide range of democracy and governance areas. Mark has 25 years of international development, private sector, and academic experience and has worked at USAID, universities, private companies, and international development organizations. For Counterpart, Mark has served as Deputy Chief of Party on a conflict mitigation program in Uzbekistan, a Chief of Party on a Central Asian Regional civil society strengthening project, and Director of New Business Development. Mark understands the compliance, collaboration, and communication requirements of headquarters-based program support as well as the operational realities of field-based program operational management. He also created and employed many of Counterpart’s current organizational capacity building, advocacy, community mobilization, inclusive social accountability, network strengthening, and financial sustainability methods and tools.
Before joining Counterpart, Mark worked as a high school teacher in Wisconsin, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria, and a business recruitment consultant in Japan. He has worked for Counterpart on three separate occasions for a total of twelve years in field management and headquarters technical positions. In addition to Counterpart, Mark served as the Civil Society Technical Specialist for the Academy for Educational Development’s (AED) public administration reform program in Georgia, the Senior Director for Middle East Programs at Relief International, USAID’s Senior Technical Specialist for Governance in Uzbekistan, and adjunct professor at George Washington University. Mark has also worked across a number of technical areas and has managed programs in agriculture, natural resource management, health, economic development, youth violence prevention, and conflict mitigation.
He has a bachelor's degree in secondary education from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, and both an MBA and MS in International Development from American University in Washington DC.