The Team
Karen Gainer, Legal and Judicial Reform Specialist/Governance Specialist
Karen Gainer is a lawyer with more than 27 years of experience. She is currently the Canadian director for the Judicial Development and Grassroots Engagement Project for Vietnam on behalf of Agriteam Canada. Prior to joining Agriteam, she was senior legal advisor to the Elections Complaints Commission for the 2005 Afghanistan Parliamentary Elections on behalf of the United Nation’s Office for Special Projects (UNOPS) and has served as legal analyst for Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe/ Office for Democracy and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) in various election missions.
From 1996 through to 2005 she was senior country director based in Croatia for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), managing a complex USAID-funded governance program. She has proven ability in designing, implementing and monitoring international development programming, including using results based management tools and reporting to donors on results. Karen has also designed and delivered training for thousands of participants, from judges, politicians and senior government officials to community members. She has a unique combination of legal and political knowledge, refined political negotiation skills as well as the ability to operate in a culturally sensitive manner in diverse communities. In addition to working in Croatia, Karen has worked in Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Kenya, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Vietnam. Before joining NDI, she maintained an extensive private criminal defence law practice in Canada for fifteen years, which included extensive trial litigation.
Sectors
Contact Information
kgainer@agriteam.ca