Yekaterina Strikeleva

USAID Regional Water and Vulnerable Environment Activity

Ms. Ekaterina Strikeleva is PhD candidate, Master of Physical Geography.

Starting from 2021, she is working at USAID Regional Water and Vulnerable Environment Activity.

She has over 16 years of experience in management and implementation of environmental and water programs in Central Asian region.

Ekaterina joined CAREC in 2010 and since then, both leaded and contributed to resource mobilization efforts and development of institutional systems and guiding documents, such as the concept on CAREC’s Development Fund, provisions on the executive director, management group and others.

From 2011 to 2020 she was leading the Water Initiative support (WIS) Program Manager and Chief of Party of the USAID-funded Smart Waters Project of CAREC. Under her management since 2011, the WIS Programme became the largest within CAREC and supports staff in all CAREC country offices and in Afghanistan.

She managed a project portfolio of over 10 regional projects with a total budget of over 15 mln $, for a wide variety of donors including EU, Norway, GIZ, UNECE, USAID. The regional projects are focused on integrated water resources management, basin planning, ecosystem services, nexus approach for water, food and energy, sustainable water management and stakeholders’ engagement in Central Asia, water quality and water supply.

Ms. Strikeleva developed handbooks on basin planning and basin councils for the Central Asian region and Afghanistan and a set of supported training modules and facilitated ten basin planning exercises, etc.

Ekaterina is highly experienced in working with different stakeholder groups, including donors (EU, USAID, Norway, GIZ, UNECE and etc.), regional organizations (IFAS, ICSD, ICWC), national and local governments, water users, environmental NGOs, farmers, and others.