About Us - Staff - Overseas - Azerbaijan (AZE)

Allen Jelich
Team Leader
Baku, Azerbaijan

Main Responsiblities

As the Team Leader for Azerbaijan, Allen has overall responsibility for the preparation, execution, and completion of the national Landmine Impact Survey in the country. This includes monitoring the activities of the national Landmine Impact Survey teams and carrying out field visits as required to ensure survey quality. In addition, he works closely with the Quality Assurance Monitoring Officers to guarantee that the survey is completed according to survey protocols for UN certification, as well as liaising and coordinating activities with the IEPF and ANAMA and representing SAC to the United Nations and the government of Azerbaijan.

Background

Allen has over 20 years’ experience in the international development and relief fields in a variety of settings. During this time, he’s managed a number of large, multi-sectoral programs, including three-years in the Caucasus (Georgia) as Deputy Director with International Rescue Committee. He began his career with the US Peace Corps, as a community development volunteer and Logistics Coordinator in Senegal and Mauritania between 1979 and 1982. From 1984 through 1986, he was a Research Intern for the Resource Systems Institute of the East West Center in Hawaii. Allen then worked for Catholic Relief Services between 1987 and 1991, in Mauritania (Project Manager) and Sierra Leone (Program Manager), before going on to the American Refugee Committee as a Field Coordinator in Iraq. In addition to Georgia, Allen worked with IRC from 1991 through mid-2002 in Pakistan (as Rehabilitation Coordinator and Deputy Director) and F. R. Yugoslavia (as Country Director). It was during the latter of which he oversaw the growth of refugee assistance programs, developing new partnerships with local NGOs, and initiated new projects in medical assistance and public health, micro-credit, refugee integration, and shelter and infrastructure.

Education/Other

Allen, who is married to Diana, received a B.A. in English from the University of Vermont at Burlington in 1978, and an M.A. in Technology Education from West Virginia University in 1987. He speaks English, is proficient in French and Wolof and has limited knowledge of Russian and Serbian.