Regional Implementation Team (RIT)

Regional Implementation Team to Support Grants for Civil Society. Organizations Promoting Conservation of Biodiversity in the Mountains of Central Asia.

Applicant Organization Legal Name: World Wildlife Fund (WWF Russia)
Short Name/Acronym: WWF Russia
Total Permanent Staff: 130
Organization Type: International
Organization Status: Non-governmental Organization
Year Organization Established: 2006
Mailing Address: 19, Nikoloyamskaya ul., build 3, Russia, Moscow 109240
Organization Chief Executive
Title and Full Name:
Petr Gorbunenko, Acting Director
Country: Russia
Telephone: +79104461709
Email: pgorbunenko@wwf.ru

History and Mission Statement

The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) was established in 1961. Since then, it grew into  a global network, comprising national organizations and representative offices. An International Secretariat coordinates this network. National WWF organizations have their own boards, while all coordinating efforts and priority-setting takes place within the Global Programme Framework.

WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. Our efforts are targeted at biodiversity conservation, lessening the negative impact of human activity, reducing our “ecological footprint” and ensuring a harmonious and sustainable relationship between people and nature.

As part of the global WWF Network, WWF Russia represents WWF and is responsible for conservation activities in the global priority places and species located in the Russian Federation and 5 countries of Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Our team:

The Team leader (Yelizaveta Protas), a fluent English and Russian speaker with a dual USRussian citizenship, is the primary contact point for the CEPF Secretariat, primary contact for the stakeholders, and the main project officer. She is based in Almaty (Kazakhstan) and probably partly in Tashkent (Uzbekistan).

The Conservation Programme Director (Victoria Elias) will be responsible for proposal evaluation, general conservation control of projects, strategic vision, etc.

The Head of Biodiversity Program (Dmitry Gorshkov) will be the Head of the expert team, and will identify experts and contact them, as well as participate in proposal evaluation.

The Director of the Central Asia Program (Grigory Mazmaniants) currently oversees all Central Asian activities of WWF Russia. He is in charge of the entire CA programme, and is currently based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He will be the lead contact for host country governments. He will support translation of documents for CEPF.

Our Scientific Officer (Olga Pereladova) brings many decades of experience in the region, and familiarity with strategic partners and key government stakeholders. She has long-term institutional memory which will be key to advise the Program on strategic partnerships, biological, and ecological matters, and continuity with past or parallel projects. She will support translation of documents for CEPF.

Our Administrator (Oksana Pavlova) has 25 years of administration experience with WWF Russia. She will be responsible for funding letters and financial interactions with the grantees of the small grants program.

Our Small grants manager (Tatyana Reznikova) will be provided by our partner ARGO, and will be based in Kazakhstan. She will do the daily tasks of gathering necessary documents in preparation of grantmaking, collecting the proposals, and forwarding them to the experts, collecting and distributing information, taking reports and M&E data, and assisting the grantees with their reporting obligations. She will also be the main manager of the Salesforce database as provided by CEPF, which we plan to use for collecting and maintaining proposal and projects portfolio. She will support translation of documents for CEPF.

IT manager (Dmitry Barkov) will support the Hotspot web portal (developed by ARGO) during the project as well as support the Project Leader with local IT needs in the region.