Our Staff – Հանրային Քաղաքականության Հետազոտությունների Ազգային Կենտրոն

Artak Manukyan - Founder

Dr. Artak Manukyan has more than 12 years of consulting experience focusing on public procurement (at), environmental economics and tourism projects. Since 2003, he worked as an independent consultant/expert for several international organizations, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and UNDP. He has also acted as a researcher and lecturer for a number of international organizations (including Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and Potsdam University) and projects. Since 2004 his focus are tourism, where he has 6 years lecturing experience (at Armenian State University of Economics). Since 2008, Artak has been engaged in various projects of Transparency International Anticorruption Center and other NGOs related to the monitoring of public procurement and procurement audit.

Dr. Manukyan was one of speakers within the press conference on tourism (March 18, 2016).

Artak has a PhD in Economics from the Economic Research Institute in Yerevan, and a diploma from the Armenian State Institute of Economics. He is an author of more than 40 publications in referred academic journals.

Armenuhi Burnazyan - Executive Director

Education

2010-2012

Armenian State University of Economics, Armenia

MS in Finance

Thesis title: “The Problems of Public Procurement System’s Development in Armenia”

2007-2009

Agribusiness Teaching Center, Armenia

Certificate in Agribusiness and Marketing from Texas A&M University (UAB)

2007-2009

Armenian National Agrarian University, Armenia

BS in Agribusiness and Marketing

2005-2007

Armenian National Agrarian University, Armenia

Finance department

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

2014, Aug.– Oct.

World Vision Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia

Researcher, “Analysis of Strategic, Legal and Institutional Framework Related to Youth Employment and Participation in Armenia” Project

2014, June-July

World Bank, Yerevan office, Armenia

Translator of the working paper “Monitoring of Public Procurement System in 2011-2013”

2009-2010

UN ILO, Geneva, Switzerland

Researcher, ILO project “Comparative Study on Social Dialogue and Gender Equality in Armenia”

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

2018 present

National Center of Public Policy Research NGO, Yerevan, Armenia

Executive Director

2017-2018

U.S. Embassy in Armenia, Public Affairs Section, Yerevan, Armenia

Project Coordinator for “Democracy Commission Small Grants Program”

· Collecting data on civil society members and other interested groups in Armenian regions

· Mapping the activist groups for each region to be invited to the trainings

· Assisting in the preparation of the trainings in each region

2010-2013

Multilateral University Consortium to Strengthen Tourism Education, Research, and Industry Outreach

University Partnership Program funded by U.S. Department of State and administrated by University of Florida (Agency award-569,235 USD)

Program team member, coordinator

2009, June – August

Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia

Internship

2008 –2009

US Peace Corps Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia

Programming and Training unit, manager assistant

· Managing Peace Corps training events and various administrative tasks

· Providing general support to staff

2008, June – August

Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), Yerevan, Armenia

Internship and paid activities

· Managing the organizational tasks of special events (conferences, seminars, projects, etc.)

· Serving as an administrative assistant to the center’s project (“Unbiased Media Coverage of Armenia-Azerbaijan Relations”)

PROFESSIONAL TRAININGS, AWARDS AND CERTIFICATES

2012

University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

Certificate of completion of the course titled “Destination Marketing and Management”

2009-2010

School for Young Leaders, Yerevan, Armenia

Leadership courses

2009, July

First Regional Summer School on “Vertical Coordination in Agri-Food Chains”, Yerevan, Armenia

Certificate of participation in the summer school organized by the ICARE and the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural development in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO). Working language-English

2009, March

International School of Economics in Tbilisi (ISET), Yerevan, Armenia

Award certificate of ISET Spring School on “Data analysis, Forecasting and Economic Policy Design” (the course included Statistical and Macroeconomic Framework modules). Working language – English.

2008, November

“2nd Armenian Republican Model United Nations”, Tsaghkadzor, Armenia

Certificate of contributive participation in the conference organized by Armenian UN Association (topics of report-Climate Change: Alternative sources of energy; Maternal and Child Health; Managing Globalization: Knowledge-based economy). Working language – English.

PUBLICATIONS

1. Burnazyan A. and Manukyan A., “The Concept of Cittaslow in Tourism as a way of collaboration between Armenia and Turkey”, submitted for the international conference “Armenia-Turkey: Paving the Way for Dialogue and Reconciliation”, Yerevan, Armenia, 2017, in progress for publication

2. Burnazyan A. and Manukyan A., “Youth Policy and Youth Employment Characteristics in Armenia”, Conference Proceedings, “The Development Priorities of Scientific-Educational System in the Regions of the Republic of Armenia”, pp 189-195, Yeghegnadzor, 2015

3. Burnazyan A. and Manukyan A., “The benefits of E-Procurement Implementation: Lessons for Armenia”, Conference Proceedings, “Sustainable development problems of regions in Armenia”, pp 40-42, Yeghegnadzor, 2013

4. Burnazyan A. and Manukyan A., “The possible directions of adoption of hotel industry standards in Armenia”, Conference proceedings, pp. 180-186, Gyumri, 2012

5. Burnazyan A. with coauthors “Tourism for Peace: Theory put in practice for Turkey and Armenia”, The Journal of Tourism and Peace Research, 2(2), 2011, pp. i-viii

6. Burnazyan A., ” Peculiarities of Corporate Social Responsibility in Transition Economies”, “Information technologies and Management”, collection of scientific articles No 6, pp 88-97, Yerevan 2008

7. Burnazyan A., “Export Promotion Issues and Development Perspectives in Armenia”, “Information technologies and Management”, collection of scientific articles No 2, pp 228-243, Yerevan 2009

LANGUAGES

Armenian(Native), English(Fluent), Russian (Fluent)

COMPUTER SKILLS

Microsoft Office Package (Word, Excel, Power Point, Access ), SPSS, STATA

REFERENCES

Available upon request

Astghik Avchyan - Project Assistant

Bachelor’s degree in:

2016-2018: Agribusiness and Marketing
2014-2016: Agrarian Economics and Management

Secondary Vocational Education:

Agrarian Management

Specialized in:

data mining in public procurement,
project logistics,
organizing and advocating the works with stockholders,
preparing information templates/handouts and organizing their dissemination,
other administrative assistance activities,
updating information in the website,
newsletters preparation activities,
other project assistant activities.

Shahen Shahinyan - Chief Accountant

Experienced Chief Accountant with a demonstrated history of working in the civic & social organization industry. Skilled in Nonprofit Organizations, Internal Audit, Analytical Skills, Management, and Financial Accounting. Strong finance professional with a Bachelor’s degree focused in technical cybernetics-telecommunication & automatic systems from State Engineering University of Yerevan, Department of Technical Cybernetic, Yerevan, Armenia.
Areas of Competence
• Knowledge and experience in financial management;
• Knowledge and experience in “Armenia Accounting Systems” and “SunSystem” SQL type database;
• Knowledge and experience to set up finance unit at the newly developed sub-office level, support sub-offices
with finance management and close out procedures;
• Experience for collection and application of data from various sources and developing multi-year, annual
budgets for new projects;
• Knowledge and experience to work with cash basis and accrual basis accounting principles;
• Knowledge and experience in analyzing US-funded project budgets and providing recommendations to
Project Managers and staff related to budget management;
• Cash flow monitoring and management of operations with the local bank accounts, including wire transfers,
payments, bank checks and other banking operations.
• Cash Forecast projections on quarterly basis as per organization’s defined model;
• Work experience with internal and external audit team, relevant knowledge for closing audit finding;
• Debrief project partner on reporting requirements. Support partners to address financial issues with
providing timely comments and recommendations on pending issues.
Personal Skills
• Hard worker and meet all financial reporting obligations and deadlines;
• Goal oriented and accurate;
• Analytical and problem solving skills;
• Patient and self-devoted to work;
• Work under pressure meeting all deadlines and multi-task-oriented;
• Good team-player.