Christophe Fréring has over 30 years of professional experience in project management with more than 20 years in the field of sustainable energy and 12 years working in the Eastern Partnership region. Mr Fréring has been coordinating the Covenant of Mayors East Office on behalf of the European Commission since 2011.
Maksym Vereshchak brings 15 years of professional experience in working in/with international project teams in sustainable municipal development, municipal and energy management, and municipal finance. Out of these 15 years, he has over 10 years of first-hand experience with designing and practical implementation of development projects for local infrastructure, energy efficiency, climate, and RES.
Iryna Horodyska has more than 6 years of experience in energy efficiency and climate mitigation projects. As Helpdesk Coordinator for the project “Supporting participation of Eastern Partnership and Central Asian Cities in the Covenant of Mayors” she assisted municipalities on a daily basis, supporting them in data collection for CO2 monitoring, elaboration of a Baseline Emission Inventory (BEI), development of Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) and in the conduction of Energy Days. Additionally, she provided administrative and technical support to experts working at municipal level in 6 EaP countries as well as Territorial and National Covenant Coordinators, Covenant Supporters and other stakeholders. In the course of this work, she facilitated communication and knowledge exchange between the experts, the Covenant Office in Brussels and the Joint Research Center (JRC). Additionally she was also involved in the adaptation of the Covenant methodology and technical materials to the Covenant East realities and collected, identified and outlined best practices. Iryna Horodyska organised and conducted capacity building trainings, networking events and study visits within Covenant-East project for the representatives of local authorities, regional administrations and ministries. She has strong coordination and networking skills. Her communication and trainee experience is obtained during 10-years projects’ implementation.
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Mr. Artem Kharazyan has more than 18 years of experience in coordination and implementation of projects in climate change, energy saving and energy efficiency sectors, including 8 years of working expeience as CoM East Country Expert in Armenia and Techncial Helpdesk Expert. His management skills encompass the organization of overall project logistics and project planning, mobilization and coordination of activities of local and international experts and provision of consultancy and expert services. Mr Kharazyan has skills in providing of technical advice, organization of data collection, systematization and analysis as well as monitoring of project sites.
Dr Maria Falaleeva is an expert in climate policy and governance, urban sustainability and stakeholder engagement with 15 years of international experience in research, consultancy and education. Maria has worked in research and educational institutions in Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany. She has also provided consultancy services to national and international clients including the EU, UNDP, FAO, local governments and NGOs.
Maria is the author of the book ‘New City for New Climate’ and has published academic articles and educational materials. In her current role as Policy and Institutional Relation Coordinator, Dr. Falaleeva actively supports cooperation and knowledge transfer between CoM East partners and global cooperation programmes.
Communication specialist with 12+ years of experience in strategic and digital communications. Ms. Chubata worked in different domains, including the education sphere, local government field as well as projects of international technical assistance. Experienced in event management, building brand awareness, enhancing public perception, and driving engagement.
Vitalii has 10+ years of experience in managing IT and digital projects. Vitalii worked with city councils, government organisations in Ukraine and businesses all over the world. He managed software development company and digital agency and has the experience of cooperation with state authorities, international organisations, associations of local authorities and municipalities.
Margaryta Kamasa has 30-years of professional experience, including 20-years in international relations in local authorities at regional level. She has over 15 years experience in realization, monitoring of international and internal projects, including the areas of energy efficiency, transborder, inter regional and inter municipal, decentralization and local self-government development ones. Mrs. Kamasa, as a regional coordinator, coordinated the work and gave Institutional support to the territorial communities for Ukraine of the EU Project «U-LEAD with Europe». She has the experience of cooperation with state authorities, international organizations, associations of local authorities, hromadas and municipalities.
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Mr. Artem Kharazyan has more than 18 years of experience in coordination and implementation of projects in climate change, energy saving and energy efficiency sectors, including 8 years of working expeience as CoM East Country Expert in Armenia and Techncial Helpdesk Expert. His management skills encompass the organization of overall project logistics and project planning, mobilization and coordination of activities of local and international experts and provision of consultancy and expert services. Mr Kharazyan has skills in providing of technical advice, organization of data collection, systematization and analysis as well as monitoring of project sites.
Mr Jahangir Afandiyev, energy and economy specialist, has more than 35 years’ civil servants and consultant experience in the energy sector. He had practical experience in the preparation of national energy policy documents. He was actively involved in development of the first 5-year National Energy Efficiency Action Plan for 2021-2025, draft Law on Use of renewable energy sources in the generation of electricity and draft Law on Efficient Use of Energy Resources and Energy Efficiency.
Within the framework of the Covenant of Mayors – East II project, as a country specific Helpdesk officer, he cooperated with the Ministry of Energy (as CNC) to assist in attracting 7 new CoM signatories and provided support to the existing signatory cities in SECAP preparation, implementation and monitoring.
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Mr. George Abulashvili is the director of the Energy Efficiency Centre Georgia (EECG). As former advisor of the Energy Charter member countries in energy sector investments, he was involved in the implementation of the protocol on energy efficiency and related environmental aspects (PEEREA). Mr. Abulashvili was an expert consultant to the Georgian parliament on energy issues. His experience spans from energy efficiency and renewable energy to related environmental aspects such as climate change mitigation and the analysis of related environmental policies and regulations. Since 1996, he has been the initiator and manager of many local and international projects and programmes focused on demonstration of the mitigation potential of various EE and RE technologies, as well as capacity building and awareness rising on climate friendly energy technologies. Mr. Abulashvili has been involved in the CoM East projects since the 1st stage.
Irina Plis is a co-founder and an Executive Director of a Moldova NGO Alliance for Energy Efficiency and Renewables (AEER) with over 20 years of experience in developing, promoting and implementing different donor-funded projects in energy and environment. Since 2012 Ms Plis has been providing tailored support to municipalities on the development of SECAPs, capacity building, networking with financing institutions and local stakeholders, public awareness and communication. Since 2014 Ms Plis developed and managed the implementation of complex and innovative energy projects to improve the municipal infrastructure including public buildings, street lighting, use of RES, municipal services with the total attracted budget of over 3 mln euros.
Ms Oksana Kysil has a wealth of experience in fields related to the topics of the CoM initiative. Her expertise covers such issues as UA energy legislation, climate, and environmental policies (mitigation and adaptation) on state, regional and local levels; economic analysis of mitigation and adaptation projects of municipal infrastructure with various scenario and donors’/IFIs needs for investment; monitoring and evaluation of project results including GHG emissions. During the last 5 years, Ms Kysil was a Country Expert for Ukraine in the frame of the CoM East II project. She assisted UA SIGNS in adhesion procedure, elaboration of BEI/RVA/SECAP and monitoring, as well as development of bankable project for its further financing by IFIs and donors.
Vitaliy Volkov has more than 15 years of experience in project management in the field of energy efficiency, where the main beneficiaries are local governments. He is well versed in the methodology of the Covenant of Mayors through his work in the first Ukrainian support structure and participation in international technical assistance projects.
His main assignment in the project is to provides advisory support to the signatory communities of the Covenant of Mayors in compiling a baseline emission survey, setting targets and developing measures to mitigate climate change, monitoring the implementation of the SEAP and working with the online platform MyCovenant.
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