Tereza Beniakova

Senior Associate
Tereza Beniakova is programme design, research, and MEL specialist, with over 15 years of experience and deep thematic expertise on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE), Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) in tandem with development and stabilisation in fragile states.

She has led technical delivery, research and M&E of sensitive programmes for a range of bilateral and multilateral actors including the UK, Danish and German governments, USAID and the World Bank, and led teams of 10+. This includes leading a large-scale quantitative assessment of drivers of violent extremism in Somalia, setting up MEL systems capturing behavioural change at a rehabilitation centre for violent extremist-affiliated individuals in Lebanon, long-term involvement in assessing a rehabilitation programme for former members of a terrorist group, and designing a reintegration initiative targeting at-risk returnees in Syria. She has extensive experience in conducting participatory assessments focused on lesson learning and system strengthening with security actors in a variety of operational contexts including UK Ministry of Defence training missions in East Africa and Lebanon, the senior National Police Service leadership in Kenya and assorted military and security counterparts in e.g Somalia and Sudan.

Tereza has designed and/or led evaluations of more than two dozen whole-of-government and multi-dimensional/integrated interventions in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Jordan, South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria/Turkey, Tajikistan and Tanzania (for Denmark, the UN, UK, US, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, the World Bank and others). She was previously the Regional Security Advisor in charge of the North Afghanistan office of an international NGO, advising on security matters to over 100 NGOs.

She holds a BA War Studies from King’s College, London and an MSc Comparative Politics/Conflict Studies from the London School of Economics.

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