Our Team

Kyra’s journey with PartnersGlobal began in 2017 when she was tapped for her expertise in access to justice, rule of law, and human rights issues to advance Partners’ programs and local partner capacities. Over time, she took on diverse management roles and in January 2020 became Managing Director for Program Portfolios. In this capacity, Kyra provides strategic oversight and guidance on management and program implementation across all regions and thematic areas. In January 2021, she was named Co-Executive Director.

From 2014-19, Kyra served as Senior Technical Director of New Rule, LLC, providing technical assistance across the globe while involved in all aspects of the development and growth of a woman-owned small business. She has lived in South Asia and Eastern Europe, where she advised national human rights institutions, government agencies, and community-based organizations on capacity building and citizen services delivery. Kyra launched her development career as one of the initial directors of the American Bar Association’s overseas programming. She credits this experience with igniting her passion for justice for the underserved and opening her eyes to the reality that lasting change requires long-term commitment.

Kyra is a Double Hoya – a graduate of both Georgetown University Law Center and Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. She and her husband have four children and two cats. When not traveling together (19 countries as of 2019), they play a lot of board games – very competitively – and everyone pretends to listen to Kyra pass down family lore.

Roselie joined PartnersGlobal in 2015 as Global Director for Civil Society. In this position, she played a dual role with a foot in both the regional teams and the technical support team. She provided strategic planning and oversight for the Latin America programs and played a leading role in advancing PartnersGlobal’s civil society resiliency programming and innovative Resiliency+ Framework, which offers tools and tactics to support organizations in navigating complexity and thriving in uncertainty. In 2021, Roselie was promoted to Co-Executive Director.

She began her career in Moscow as a PR manager on the first USAID public-private partnership promoting distance learning for staff of Russian-American joint ventures.  From there she spent several years working at the intersection of capacity-building, advocacy, and entrepreneurial skill-building, often in politically challenging and conflict-affected environments.  She has designed and led multiple projects, including as Country Director and Chief of Party for programs to build organizational sustainability and resiliency through soft diplomacy, social entrepreneurship, public-private partnerships, and alternative revenue generation in fragile and volatile states.  She has worked across Russia and Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Among her achievements, she created a sustainable civil society capacity building program in Central Asia, worked to empower women social entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia, and built a network of women’s health advocates across nine countries in the Middle East and North Africa. She also launched and led her own small business delivering last mile connectivity solutions for civil society organizations.

Holding a master’s in international communications, Roselie approaches her work through a lens of strategic communications and entrepreneurial thinking.

Bisrat Yohannes is the Deputy Chief Financial Officer at PartnersGlobal with a key role in financial management, financial forecasting and planning, development of relevant financial information, and timely financial reporting. He assists the CFO in developing internal control policies, guidelines, and procedures as well as establishing and maintaining an infrastructure that supports future stable growth and ensure that highest standards of financial integrity are being attained.

Before joining PartnersGlobal, Bisrat worked at Helen Keller International as program finance manager overseeing everyday program financial activities for multimillion-dollar programs funded by USAID and private foundations. He has extensive experience in all aspects of financial management ranging from simple accounting to complex financial management.

Bisrat holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting with more than 15 years of experience. Originally from Ethiopia, he enjoys reading books and playing/watching sport in his free time.

Luis has been part of the Partners Network since 2008, starting his career at our sister organization in Mexico, Centro de Colaboración Cívica (CCC), where he served as a facilitator for complex multi-stakeholder dialogue processes and Director for the Citizen Security and Human Rights portfolio. He joined the PartnersGlobal team in 2015, bringing to the organization a deep level of technical and regional expertise. He has experienced firsthand the power of dialogue and believes deeply in positive conflict transformation.

At PartnersGlobal, Luis oversees Partners’ Civil Society Resilience portfolio as well as the organization’s peacebuilding and democracy-building programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. He is one of the organization’s lead trainers and focal point persons for civil society capacity-building and conflict resolution, providing support to other regional teams and leading different global consultancies. He has a decade of experience designing, implementing, and evaluating multi stakeholder dialogue, negotiation, and consensus-building processes and platforms concerning human rights, access to justice, and human security policies and laws, as well as designing organizational change management processes and supporting civil society organizations to undertake those processes.

Luis earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas in Mexico City and his Master of Arts in Development Studies with a specialization in Crises, Emergency Interventions, and Development Actions from Université Panthéon – Sorbonne in Paris.

In addition to his work at PartnersGlobal, Luis is an avid reader and chef, as well as an aspiring potter.

Originally from South Texas, Edith joined PartnersGlobal in August 2019 as the organization’s first Human Resources Leader. Edith received her BA in Political Science and Latin American Studies from Baylor University, and her MA in Public Administration in Human Resources Management and Legal/Judicial Administration from Texas State University. Prior to joining PartnersGlobal, Edith managed the Talent Management and Human Resources functions for large and mid-size corporations across the United States, Mexico, and Canada in industries including real estate, retail, and legal services.

Bridget is a native of the Boston area and started working at PartnersGlobal in 2013 as an intern while pursuing her Master of Arts in Latin American Studies at Georgetown University. She previously lived and worked in Maracaibo, Venezuela as a Fulbright Fellow.

As Director for Business Development, Bridget provides strategic leadership for Partners’ business development efforts. Her role includes developing and leading knowledge management processes, building and sustaining external partnerships, supporting new programmatic and funding opportunities, and coaching and mentoring team members and local partners. Bridget is an experienced trainer and facilitator in English and Spanish and leads PartnersGlobal’s Facilitating Accountability, Integrity, and Resilience approach, which supports local civil society and governments to jointly counter corruption and increase transparency in all aspects of governance. In addition to her official duties, Bridget takes pride in making Partners a better place to work and believes strongly in the power of teamwork, collaboration, and playfulness.

In her free time, she enjoys going on adventures, testing new and ever more elaborate recipes, and pretending that her cat and dog get along.

Rasha started her journey with the Partners Network in 2009. She first worked at PartnersJordan for around eight years then joined PartnersGlobal team in 2019 as the Director of Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Civil Society Strengthening. Prior to her work at Partners Network, she worked at the private sector for couple of years, and with other local and international organizations.

Rasha is a catalyst for change and is driven to make a difference through advocating for human rights issues and for safe and resilient environments for women, youth, human rights activists, and marginalized communities. That’s what resonates with her about Partners Network and PartnersGlobal work.

Passionately throughout her career, Rasha worked with civil society organizations and activists around the world to amplify their voices, increase citizen participation in decision making processes, advocate for human rights, and create innovative solutions to community issues. She is part of a diverse network of activists and civil society organizations around the globe, and she helped establishing networks in the MENA region and lead many advocacy campaigns and initiatives on social accountability, governance, transparency, anti-corruption, defending civic space, and a variety of awareness raising campaigns.

Rasha serves on the Board of Directors for Amnesty International – USA for the 2022-2025 term. In 2022, she was recognized as one of the Arab America Foundation’s 40 under 40. Rasha holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, a Community Organizing Certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School, and abachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Jordan.

Manal joined PartnersGlobal in February 2020 as a Finance Associate for the Middle East and North of Africa (MENA) programs. She provides financial leadership and oversight of the financial aspects of multiple programs including leads and proposals, start-up, implementation, and control, monitoring and evaluation, close-out, and cross-cutting functions.

Her journey with the Partners Network started first with PartnersYemen in 2009 until 2015 where she worked as an HR and Finance Manager. Prior to that she worked with National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) Yemen in finance and operations and contributed to programs implementation with local CSOs in the field. She also worked for five years in finance and operations for a travel agency.

Originally from Yemeni descent, Manal was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where she earned her Associate Degree in Marketing and Management from Commercial College of Addis Ababa University. She moved in 2004 to Yemen where she earned her Bachelor of Arts (BA) English literature from Al Andalous University. Manal has extensive training in conflict analysis and resolution, security management and crisis leadership, first aid, basic ticketing, and intermediate a peroration at Yemenia Airways- Yemen. She also spent earning a several credit hours in Accounting for Non-Accountants.

Manal likes to spend her free time cooking, traveling, visiting historical places, and learning about new cultures. She also loves dancing and movies.

Samuel Basa joined PartnersGlobal in 2021 as Executive Coordinator. In this capacity, Sam supports the leadership team, provides overall administration and office management for the organization, and supports communications and marketing efforts. Sam graduated from Chowan University with a Bachelors’ in Graphic Communications.  He has extensive experience in administration, graphic design, and theatre management.

In his spare time, Sam enjoys the fine arts especially theatre, visiting the many art spaces in DC, and playing RPGs with friends.

Alexa is a Program Manager of the PartnersGlobal Civil Society Resilience portfolio, focusing on increasing the resilience of civil society organizations in closing civic spaces.

Before joining PartnersGlobal, Alexa was a Technical Specialist at IREX where she designed and led trainings pertaining to social inclusion, gender equality, trauma-informed care, and resilience and security for human rights defenders in closing and closed spaces. Alexa also managed human rights programs that focused on strengthening the resilience and security of LGBTQ+ and women human rights defenders in the MENA region, women’s rights advocates across the globe, anti-trafficking activists and journalists in Southeast Asia. Prior to IREX, Alexa was Director of Advancement at a Virginia-based NGO, Sudan Sunrise, in which she directed peacebuilding efforts and reconciliation projects in Sudan and South Sudan. Alexa also researched and analyzed security developments pertaining to refugee crises in the Middle East region, including at The Jerusalem Fund in Washington, D.C.

Alexa earned her Masters of Arts in Middle East and Islamic Studies from George Mason University and a Graduate Certificate in Trauma-Informed Care from the University at Buffalo.

In addition to her work at PartnersGlobal, Alexa is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu grappler, aspiring photographer, and lover of nature.

Born and raised in West Africa, Assita started working with PartnersGlobal in early 2018. Before Partners, Assita lived in Paris, France where she completed her Master’s degree in Financial Management and worked with Aviva France. Prior to this, Assita lived in Bamako, Mali where she attained her Bachelor’s degree in Management.

She is responsible for providing administrative and financial support to the Africa team, ensuring smooth and timely flow of work. She also supports Partners West Africa Centers in Senegal and Nigeria as well as PartnersGlobal’s subgrantees in Guinea, Senegal and Burkina Faso

Assita finds joy in reading and cooking, but mostly in spending time with her two handsome sons. They particularly enjoy taking trips to the library.

Jessica has served as Program Manager with the Global Initiatives team at PartnersGlobal since May 2022. In this position, Jessica supports the civil society resilience portfolio. She primarily manages the Civil Society Resilience Activity (CSRA) in Serbia—a five-year project funded by USAID and SDC, and implemented by PartnersGlobal together with five local and international organizations. The project seeks to improve the legal environment for civil society, public understanding of civil society’s contributions to the development of Serbian society, and the ability of civil society in Serbia to be more transparent, accountable, and representative of its constituents.

Before joining PartnersGlobal, Jessica was a Program Manager at an international nonprofit where she managed the implementation of public, private, and foundation grants in Nigeria and Belarus. In Nigeria, Jessica managed an agriculture and education program to build the resilience of smallholder farming communities through improved agricultural practices and increased access to finance and income diversification opportunities for women and youth. In Belarus, she managed the implementation of a business education program that aimed to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem by establishing regional business education centers, start-up competitions, and women and youth networking groups.

Jessica earned her MA in International Peace & Conflict Resolution from American University and a BA in Anthropology & Sociology from Lewis & Clark College.

Jessica is inspired by PartnersGlobal’s approach of fostering collaboration and partnership. She believes that the greatest and most sustainable positive impact is grounded in strong trust and collaboration that effectively leverages the strengths and resources of each partner.

Christian Labossiere joined PartnersGlobal as an intern for the Africa Team in February 2021. After a year, Christian was offered a Program Associate position to assist with the implementation of the Africa Team’s current security governance and gender equity initiatives.

Upon graduating from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s in French and International Affairs, Christian spent a few months volunteering in Port au Prince, Haiti before joining the US Peace Corps in 2018. As a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa, Christian supported his school and community by teaching English and Creative Arts full-time and collaborating with local partners to apply for infrastructure funding for the school itself. Christian’s Peace Corps service was cut a few months short due to COVID evacuations but by this time he had already been accepted into Georgetown University’s MA Conflict Resolution Program.

Christian has in M.A. from Georgetown University with a degree in peacebuilding, mediation, negotiations and diplomacy. In his free time, Christian enjoys gaming with friends, watching science documentaries, and reading books on consciousness and meditation.

Husn Maab has served as Senior Finance Associate at PartnersGlobal since 2022. In this position he provides financial and procurement leadership and oversight of the financial aspects of multiple programs including leads and proposals, start-up, implementation and control, monitoring and evaluation, close-out, and cross-cutting functions.

Husn has previously worked as a Financial Analyst with ACDI/VOCA and Acquisition and Assistance Specialist with USAID Mission. Husn holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from University of Peshawar.

Husn is inspired to work at PartnersGlobal to be part of an organization working for prosperity and positive change for all people across the world.

Deborah oversees various projects in PartnersGlobal’s Africa portfolio. She works closely with donors, network members, and partners to increase access to justice, respect for human rights and protection for communities in need. 

Deborah has more than 15 years of experience in program management, business development, policy design, and training in the field of peacebuilding. She designed and managed projects funded by the governments of Canada, Switzerland, UK and US, private foundations, and companies. Her topics of expertise include conflict resolution, peacebuilding, violence prevention, youth empowerment, and protection including sexual and gender-based violence. Deborah also co-authored a number of training manuals and handbooks on peacebuilding topics. In the past, she worked and consulted for organizations such as Creative Learning, the United States Institute for Peace, Oxfam America, the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue and UNICEF. Deborah has an M.A. in History and a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University.

Analucía Partida Borrego is a Program Manager for the Global Initiatives team at PartnersGlobal.  In this role, Analucía manages projects on conflict transformation and civil society strengthening in Latin America and provides support to the civil society resilience portfolio.

Since 2010, Analucía has worked on local dialogue processes, narratives and depolarization, and conflict prevention research in Latin America and the Middle East. Prior to joining Partners, she worked as program manager and dialogue facilitator for the Latin America Unit at Berghof Foundation, where she focused on multi-track dialogue processes. Other previous experiences include human rights protection and conflict prevention in Mexico, and conflict and protest research in Egypt.

Analucía is a passionate advocate of creating spaces for inclusive dialogue and reflection processes. She has written about depolarizing narratives, power and discourse and art-led activism. She holds an M.A. in International Affairs from the Institut d’etudes Politiques de Paris and B.A. degrees in Peace and Conflict Studies and Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jeffsky Poincy joined PartnersGlobal in August of 2021 as a Program Manager for the Africa portfolio. As a Program Manager, Jeffsky works with local implementing partners and Partners Network members based in the region on projects in accountable governance, civil society strengthening, and peacebuilding.

Jeffsky comes to PartnersGlobal with a rich background in project management and diverse technical expertise. He has over seven years of experience in economic development, strategic planning, program management, and policy development across public, private, and NGO sectors. He has worked for organizations such as Plan International, the Haitian Ministry of Tourism, and the Haitian Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Civic Action. In addition, he is the Founder of BUSY (Business-driven Solutions for Youth), a Haitian-based economic development organization whose mission is to promote and foster economic empowerment of marginalized youth in Haiti.

Jeffsky has a Master of International Development Policy from Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, focusing on Governance and Economic Development. He also obtained a master’s degree in International Project Management and a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management from the People’s Friendship University of Russia. He is fluent in English, French, Haitian Creole, and Russian. In addition to his work at Partners, Jeffsky is a passionate and committed advocate for social justice.

Leonora Smart-Abbey has served as a Senior Program Associate at PartnersGlobal since 2021. In this position, she coordinates program management and business development on the Africa portfolio. She also acts as the focal representative for Partners in the Africa region. Before joining PartnersGlobal, Leonora worked with both multilaterals and NGOs including Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Accra, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) at the UNCTAD Office of the Secretary-General in New York. She supported diverse projects on economic affairs, governance, and sustainable development by providing services including inter-governmental support, grants management, communications and strategic consulting. Leonora holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, and a Master’s degree in Economic Policy Management from the University of Ghana. She also holds a graduate certification in United Nations studies, from Seton Hall University in the U.S, and a professional certification in multilateral diplomacy and negotiations from the United Nations Institute of Training and Research in Geneva, Switzerland. Leonora is particularly interested in bridging policy with project implementation to realistically and successfully achieve impact in local communities.