Vassiliy Lakhonin
Almaty, Kazakhstan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassiliy-lakhonin/
Contact: vassiliy.lakhonin@gmail.com
Open to opportunities: Central Asia, MENA, Europe, and remote-global teams (onsite/hybrid/remote).
Last updated: February 2026
PDF download: Vassiliy-Lakhonin_CV.pdf
Summary
Target roles: Program/Portfolio Manager (Evidence & Compliance, Cross-Border) — onsite or remote.
End-to-end lifecycle management; multi-country portfolio coordination; risk management, mitigation & compliance; stakeholder engagement (international organizations/donors/investors, government, private sector); budget monitoring & vendor oversight; ethics, cross-cultural communication, facilitation & negotiation.
Languages: Russian (native), English (professional working proficiency).
I help with
- Donor reporting quality assurance and evidence-ready submission cycles.
- Cross-country KPI tracking and performance governance for multi-partner portfolios.
- Audit-readiness systems: documentation controls, risk tracking, and corrective action workflows.
Selected impact
- Managed performance and reporting for a $14M USAID-funded regional program across 4 Central Asian countries.
- Supported 4 donor audits (2019, 2020, and 2 USAID audits during 2023-2025) with zero findings.
- Coordinated cross-functional KPI tracking across 4 country offices plus HQ, with 15+ implementing partners.
- MEL/performance monitoring systems, indicator frameworks, and partner data collection workflows.
- Donor reporting stacks, audit documentation packages, and compliance evidence tracking.
- KPI dashboards and reporting templates for cross-country portfolio monitoring.
- PM tooling: sprint cadences (2-week iterations), risk logs, action trackers, and vendor coordination workflows.
- AI-assisted reporting workflows with quality-control checkpoints.
Leadership
- Led partner capacity-building across 15+ local implementing organizations.
- Chaired multi-stakeholder coordination across donors, HQ/country teams, government, and private-sector counterparts; set priorities and resolved delivery blockers.
- Owned reporting quality standards and go/no-go escalation decisions on donor-facing submissions.
- Oversaw budget monitoring and vendor deliverable tracking for portfolio activities, aligning spending execution with compliance requirements.
Target role variants
- Development/INGO: Program or Portfolio Manager (Evidence, Compliance, Cross-Border Delivery).
- Private sector: PMO / Program Operations / Compliance Program Manager (risk, controls, reporting, multi-market coordination).
Work experience
Apr 2023 – Apr 2025
Managed performance monitoring and reporting systems for a $14M USAID-funded regional program across four Central Asian countries, ensuring data integrity across 15+ local implementing partners.
- Delivered 100% on-time quarterly and annual donor reports (8 consecutive quarters) by establishing automated data collection workflows; reduced partner submission delays by 40%.
- Built partner M&E capacity across 15+ organizations; increased partner self-reported data confidence from 6.2/10 to 8.7/10.
- Maintained audit-ready compliance documentation supporting two USAID audits with zero findings.
- Coordinated cross-functional KPI tracking across 4 country offices and HQ.
- Piloted AI-assisted reporting workflows; reduced report preparation time by 25% while maintaining quality controls.
Consultant (Multiple Clients & Assignments)
Apr 2021 – Mar 2023
Delivered project coordination, program design, and facilitation services for international organizations and private-sector clients.
- SaaS / E-Commerce Platform Launch (Oct 2021 – May 2022) — Product Launch Coordinator: rollout, sprint testing cycles (2-week iterations), performance metrics tracking, vendor coordination.
- Women in Transportation & Logistics (Apr – Dec 2021) — Program Design Support (CILT Kazakhstan / WiLAT): workshops, LinkedIn community to 100+ members, events/webinars.
- Youth Civic Engagement (Apr – Jun 2021) — Mentor/Facilitator (U.S. Consulate General, Almaty): weekly hybrid sessions (10 participants), milestone-based mentoring.
Project Management Specialist / Training Consultant — DAI (Almaty, Kazakhstan)
Mar 2019 – Feb 2021
Coordinated a USAID-funded portfolio across 5 Central Asian countries; managed timelines, budgets, and stakeholder relationships.
- Delivered 25+ deliverables on time over 24 months via proactive risk tracking and weekly coordination.
- Supported donor audits (2019, 2020) with documentation packages; zero findings.
Researcher & Research Expertise Services — Multiple Clients
Jan 2014 – Dec 2018
- Desk research, literature reviews, and fieldwork for policy-focused research projects.
- Data collection, translation, and database setup for multi-country studies.
- Contributions to peer-reviewed publications and policy briefs.
- International workshops and conferences (logistics, coordination, facilitation support).
Education
- Master in Politics and Security (Central Asia), OSCE Academy in Bishkek — 2013
- Bachelor in Sociology (Dual-degree with Bard College, NY, U.S.), American University of Central Asia — 2012
Professional development
- Perplexity’s AI Business Fellowship & Agents Intensive with Google — 2025
- Procurement and Cybersecurity Trainings — DAI (2023–2024)
- Project/Program Management for Development Professionals — Humentum / PM4NGOs (2019, 2022)
- CEU SPP: Action Research, Effective Writing, Visualization and Advocacy — 2018
- JPO internship — MFA Kazakhstan, Dept. of Multilateral Cooperation — 2016
Selected articles
Reporting sample
Case study
References, work samples, publications, and supporting materials available upon request.