Founder and Chair of New Diplomacy, a non-profit association established in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2015 to address the policy challenges facing global and regional policymakers in the eastern and southern neighbourhoods of the European Union, not least the insecurity in the post-Soviet space and the crises of democracy and instability in the Middle East. He provides risk monitoring consultancy (Europe and Central Asia) to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Chief of Party, Central Europe Media Program (CEMP), Zinc Network – leading since its launch in October 2022 a multi-year project, supported by USAID, to empower independent media to grow audiences and develop sustainable revenue streams.
Specialist in participatory policymaking: Council of Europe expert on civil participation in political decision-making (2016-), and editor of Council of Europe studies on civil participation. He has provided advice, mentoring and training on participatory democracy and citizens' engagement to local authorities in Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia, and run trainings for public officials in Central Asia. He also conceived the first Open Government Partnership (OGP) Balkans Dialogue conference, held in Albania in 2015. Since September 2016, he has been a member of the International Experts Panel (IEP) that oversees the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) of the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
Manager of international civil society networks, leading communications and reputation management at Transparency International, and running a network of analysts as Executive Director of PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society) international think-tank network (2005-2015), running projects and fellowship programmes (for instance, successfully placing the goal of visa-free travel to the EU among the top priorities of the governments of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), serving as trainer in strategic communications for independent think-tanks, and editor and author of print and online publications. In 2012 and 2014, he was co-Chair of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, and author of the Forum's first strategy. He was a Member of the Advisory Group on Media Freedom in Eastern Partnership, chaired by the Latvian EU Council Presidency (2015) and European Commission (2017).
Communications expert: Native-English editor and journalist published in international media (The European, International Herald Tribune, Financial Times, Project Syndicate); communications and public relations professional (Director of Communications, Transparency International, 2000-2005); experienced public speaker and event moderator, trainer and facilitator.
Promoting Participatory Democracy and Effective Policymaking
- Since January 2015, Jeff has been a member of the Advisory Group on Media Freedom in the Eastern Partnership countries, chaired by the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council in 2015 and by the European Commission since 2017. In 2015-2016, he was a member of the Roster of Experts reviewing grant proposals for the GPSA (Global Partnership for Social Accountability), World Bank.
- In 2016-2017, he worked with the Council of Europe Civil Society Division as lead author and editor of two studies (the first of which, Civil Participation in Political Decision-Making in the Six Eastern Partnership Countries - Part One. Laws and Policies, was published in May 2016; and the second, Civil Participation in Political Decision-Making in the Eastern Partnership Countries – Part Two: Practice and Implementation, in April 2017).
- From 2017-2021, he has served as an international expert on the Council of Europe project, Promoting Civil Participation in Democratic Decision-Making in Ukraine, designing and leading a participatory democracy academy for local government officials and civil society organisations throughout Ukraine. Since 2019, he has advised a number of local authorities in Ukraine as part of Strengthening Democracy and Building Trust at the Local Level in Ukraine, a project of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. The resulting Participatory Democracy Academies have now been introduced by the Council of Europe in many countries, including Ukraine, Georgia, Serbia, and Turkey.
- From 2016-2020, he provided risk monitor consultancy (Europe and Central Asia) to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
- Since September 2016, he has been a member of the International Experts Panel (IEP) that oversees the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) of the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
- In June 2016, he edited and co-authored with Ghia Nodia and Jan Piekło Security Alert on the EU’s Doorstep. Strategies for Strengthening Security in the Eastern Partnership Countries published by the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD), Georgia. In September 2016, he was the author of Time for a New Security Architecture for NATO and Eastern Neighbours, also published by CIPDD.
- In 2013-2014 (also 2011-2012), he was President and co-Chair of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum.
- In 2014-15, he was Editor-in-Chief of European Integration Index 2014 for Eastern Partnership Countries. In 2017 and 2018, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Eastern Partnership Index 2015-2016. Charting Progress in European Integration, Democratic Reforms, and Sustainable Development, published in January 2018, and the Eastern Partnership Index 2017, published in December 2018.
- In 2012, he was Editor and co-author of The Right Approach to Europe - An Advocacy Handbook for Civil Society: Understanding and Influencing EU Policymaking.
- In 2008, he was co-editor of Democracy's New Champions. European Democracy Assistance after EU Enlargement.
Jeff was Director of Communications at the Berlin-based international secretariat of Transparency International, the global anti-corruption NGO, from 2000 until leaving to become the first Executive Director of PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), a network of independent think-tanks in Europe and Central Asia, upon its establishment in Prague in March 2005.
He ran PASOS from 2005-2015, where he conceived and managed projects linking up civil society actors in the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia with independent think-tanks in Central Europe. In ten years, he built PASOS up as one of the leading civil society networks in Europe, handing over to his successor multi-annual projects based on contracts and grants worth more than € 1.5 million, including a four-year contract to provide foreign policy expertise to the European Parliament. Under his leadership, in 2015 PASOS achieved Transparify’s top (five-star) rating for funding transparency of think-tanks.
From 1995-1998, he was Central Europe correspondent for The European newspaper, prior to which he worked as an editor and journalist in London for The European, the Sunday Times, New Statesman, Tribune, and other titles. He was an op-ed contributor for the International Herald Tribune.
Overview of experience:
More than 20 years as communications, advocacy and public policy professional (internal and external communications, management of international networks, reputation management, corporate social responsibility, and public relations):
- Experienced editor and journalist published in leading international media (1987-1999: editor and journalist in UK and Central Europe), specialised in book-editing and quality control of policy publications (editing of texts written in English by non-native speakers), including as Editor-in-Chief of Eastern Partnership Index 2017;
- Experienced public speaker and moderator of international events;
- Trainer in journalism and media skills (including training on anti-corruption reporting);
- Member, Advisory Group on Media Freedom in the Eastern Partnership countries, chaired by the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council, January-June 2015, and the European Commission since January 2017;
- Served twice as co-Chair of Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (2011-2012, again 2013-2014), and was author of the Forum's first four-year strategy.
More than 10 years’ experience in conception, design, and management of multi-country projects, grantmaking (re-granting), and skills development, focusing on good governance, strategic communications, EU policymaking, democratic transition, and civil society-government relations:
- Designed and managed dozens of multi-country projects and fellowship schemes, including projects on free trade agreements and visa-free travel, preparing Eastern Partner countries' policymakers for integration with the EU, and a project resulting in the first Open Government Partnership (OGP) Balkans Dialogue conference in 2015;
- Conceived and managed a range of fellowship schemes, including the Ilko Kucheriv Democracy Fellowship for policy analysts from Ukraine (PASOS, 2012-2015), and the fellowship project, Supporting Independent Journalism in the Eastern Partnership Countries (New Diplomacy, 2016);
- Secured funding for a € 960,000 project on the Open Government Partnership in south-east Europe, a € 1 million grant for strengthening civil society monitoring of public service delivery in the Eastern Partnership countries, and a four-year contract to provide foreign policy expertise to the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs.
- Achieved for PASOS Transparify’s top (five-star) rating for funding transparency of think-tanks in 2015.
- Grantmaking and monitoring and evaluation of projects as a re-granter to civil society organisations in the region of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including mentoring of grantees in project design and implementation;
NEW DIPLOMACY - placing strategic thinking and security at the heart of international relations
NEW DIPLOMACY was launched in 2015 to address the policy challenges facing global and regional policymakers in the eastern and southern neighbourhoods of the European Union, not least the insecurity in the post-Soviet space and the crises of democracy and instability in the Middle East.
NEW DIPLOMACY focuses on security policy, diplomacy, and media standards, including raising the quality and accuracy of factual information available to policymakers and the wider public.
NEW DIPLOMACY’s activities will include:
- international projects on media, diplomacy, and security;
- policy analysis and advice on the challenges facing policymakers and the public throughout Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East;
- international advocacy and engagement with other players in the fields of media and diplomacy.
In May 2016, New Diplomacy launched an Independent Journalism Fellowship for Eastern Partnership Countries, an initiative to raise standards of journalism covering the post-Soviet space, in particular the Eastern Partnership countries. This will be achieved by a programme of mentoring journalists from Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan or Belarus, including placements of four journalism fellows in EU member states (e.g. the Baltic states and Visegrad Four countries) to work with leading broadcast or print media and engage also with independent non-profit organisations working on the post-Soviet space (human rights organisations, independent media associations and think-tanks).
Through mentoring and co-operation, the journalists will also link up with each other to strengthen co-operation of newsrooms in different Eastern Partnership countries in terms of sharing content, and also in formulating and promoting high standards of news reporting, public service broadcasting standards, and regulation of propaganda in their home countries. More details of the fellowship are available here.
NEW DIPLOMACY is a new initiative, launched in August 2015 by a group of policy analysts and media professionals, each with several decades’ experience leading projects in promoting EU integration and closer Euro-Atlantic relations, and in strengthening civil society in the post-Soviet space. The founders are Jeff Lovitt (Chair), formerly Executive Director of the PASOS network of independent think-tanks, Dr. Leila Alieva, President of the Centre for National and International Studies (CNIS) in Baku, Azerbaijan, Krzysztof Bobiński, President of Unia & Polska foundation, and Jan Piekło, Ambassador of Poland to Ukraine. For more about the founders, or to contact New Diplomacy, click here.
The statutes of NEW DIPLOMACY were submitted to the court in Prague, Czech Republic, on 16 October 2015, and the registration of New Diplomacy, z.s., took effect from 19 November 2015.
For more information, visit www.newdiplomacy.net
As the first Executive Director of PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), Jeff conceived and implemented seminars training think-tank directors and their staff in strategic communications, developed an advocacy handbook for civil society on influencing EU policymaking, and oversaw the emergence of PASOS as one of the leading civil society networks in the region.
PASOS is a network of independent policy centres spanning 28 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The Executive Director’s responsibilities include:
* Preparing overall strategy and institutional development; fundraising and donor relations.
* Organising policy research (including designing project methodology), conferences, training seminars, fellowships.
* Managing Secretariat staff, and managing and evaluating international projects.
* Managing advocacy work and relations with other networks, governments, and opinion-formers.
* Maintaining network communications and supervising organisation of Board and General Assembly meetings.
* Annual budget (grown from € 172,000 in 2005 to average of € 550,000 in 2010-2015) and work-plan.
Achievements:
Jeff took strategic leadership in projects and civil society development in the Western Balkans and in the EU’s eastern neighbours (in 2011-12 he successfully lobbied the European Commission to launch the European Neighbourhood Policy Civil Society Facility), and diversified the funding base of PASOS.
Highlights included:
- Designed and led key projects, resulting for example in a breakthrough in relations between the Eastern Partner countries and the EU (with projects on free trade agreements and visa-free travel, preparing the countries' policymakers for integration with the EU)
- Developed PASOS as a leading regional civil society network (served twice as co-Chair of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, and put the Open Government Partnership on the agenda in the Western Balkans, resulting in the first annual OGP Balkans Dialogue conference in 2015)
- Secured funding for a € 960,000 project on the Open Government Partnership in south-east Europe, a € 1 million grant for strengthening civil society monitoring of public service delivery in the Eastern Partner countries, and a four-year contract to provide foreign policy expertise to the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. Under his leadership, in 2015 PASOS achieved Transparify’s top (five-star) rating for funding transparency of think-tanks.
Selection of Projects Developed and Managed at PASOS:
Partners in Empowerment, 2015-2018. A mentoring programme to strengthen civil society organisations' ability to monitor public service delivery. The project includes webinars (budget: € 1.1 million, including € 600,000 in re-granting, funded by the European Commission). Country coverage: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine.
Advocacy for Open Government: Right to Know in South East Europe, 2012-2016. The project, funded by the European Commission (budget: € 960,000), monitors the impact of polices and develops commitments under the Open Government Partnership initiative: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia.
Research Networks to Provide Foreign Policy Expertise - EU Enlargement, Eastern Neighbourhood, Russia and Central Asia, 2014-2018. This € 380,000 contract with the Directorate-General for External Policies of the European Parliament concerns provision of policy analysis for the Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET).
Internet Freedom Reports – Visegrad Four countries, 2014. Jeff Lovitt designed the methodology, identified the country partners, and edited the reports in this project, funded by Google Europe (budget € 36,000).
Enlargement and Citizenship: Looking to the Future, 2013 – 2014. The project, funded by the European Commission, assessed the level of engagement of new EU member states in EU policymaking through analysis and opinion surveys, and organised citizens' taskforces and public seminars in new member states and accession countries in the Western Balkans.
Linking Change-Makers in the Middle East and North Africa with Democratic Reformers of Post-Communist (Central and Eastern) Europe, 2011-2012. The project, funded by US National Endowment for Democracy (budget: € 45 000), forged co-operation between Egyptian and CEE policy centres on gender policy and security sector reform.
Monitoring of Eastern Partnership Roadmap Implementation May 2012 – October 2013. Jeff Lovitt designed the methodology and served as Editor-in-Chief of civil society monitoring of progress in implementation of the EU roadmaps for the six Eastern Partner countries. The project was carried out for the Regional Environmental Centre (Moldova) and the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum.
Opening the Doors of Policy-Making: Central Asia and South Caucasus, 2010 – 2012.
PASOS undertook needs assessments and skills development training for CSO actors and public officials, and a mentoring fellowship scheme supported civil society experts in writing individual policy papers (funded by United Nations Democracy Fund, budget: € 254,000).
Fostering and Monitoring Roadmaps towards Visa Liberalisation between Eastern Partnership Countries and EU Member States, 2010 – 2012. A project analysing the preparedness of Eastern Partner countries to meet the criteria in terms of technical, legislative and political measures for the lifting of visa requirements on travel to the EU's Schengen area. The project put the issue on the agenda of think-tanks and governments in the region, not least in Moldova, which achieved visa-free travel to the EU in May 2014 (funded by Open Society Foundations, budget: € 233,000).
Monitoring Western Balkans progress in fulfilling EU roadmaps for visa-free travel, 2008 – 2009. A project analysing the preparedness of Western Balkans countries to meet the criteria in terms of technical, legislative and political measures for the lifting of visa requirements on travel to the EU's Schengen area. The project included advocacy to push governments to make the reforms. Visa-free travel was granted to Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia from January 2010, and to Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina from December 2010 (funded by Open Society Foundations).
Eastern Partnership Policy Bridging, 2009. This project, designed to support joint policy projects between think-tanks from the Eastern Partnership countries and EU think-tanks, involved re-granting to independent think-tanks in Moldova, Georgia, and Azerbaijan on trade policies, including studies on economic integration with the EU, policy convergence in trade, and an examination of the impact of visa-free travel with the EU on Moldova's economy (funded by Open Society Foundations).
The Challenge of European Development Co-operation Policy for New Member States, a PASOS report for the European Parliament, and Democracy's New Champions. European Democracy Assistance after EU Enlargement, a PASOS study into the democracy assistance policies of the Visegrad Four countries, funded by the International Visegrad Fund and Open Society Foundations, 2007 – 2008.
Jeff Lovitt served as Director of Communications at the international secretariat of Transparency International (TI) in Berlin, Germany, from 2000-2005.
Jeff managed a staff of 11 and department budget of € 1.2 million (2004 figures) in the media relations, print publications and online resources departments at the Transparency International (TI) Secretariat, the global headquarters of the leading international non-governmental organisation fighting corruption worldwide.
Reporting to Chief Executive and Chairman, and deputising for the Chief Executive, responsibilities included:
- Developing global advocacy strategies, maintaining public awareness of the issue of corruption, and keeping arguments for good governance and corporate social responsibility at the top of agenda of key global institutions (e.g. leading corporations, World Bank and regional development banks, OECD, UN);
- Advising Board of Directors on strategic communications and reputation management issues;
- implementing reputation management strategies and preparing crisis communications plans; setting advocacy and agenda-setting targets for TI’s regional work and global programmes;
- Supporting regional departments through drafting of key policy analysis;
- Preparing submissions for, and securing, Awards for TI: Carl Bertelsmann Prize, September 2002; Media Tenor Agenda-Setting Award 2002; Triple Bottom Line Investing Award 2003;
- Representing TI at conferences; communicating TI policies to the media and other key stakeholders (governments, corporate sector, other NGOs); organising press conferences in London, Paris, Berlin, Prague; moderating events with former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, philanthropist George Soros, heads of government, e.g. President of Mexico Vicente Fox (2001);
- Writing speeches, letters to the editor, academic journal essays, book chapters, and newspaper articles (including op-eds in the International Herald Tribune, Financial Times, European Voice, and Wall Street Journal);
- Media training of management, programme staff and TI national chapter representatives.
Time to End Putin's Impunity by Jeff Lovitt and Jan Piekło, bne IntelliNews, 10 June 2021
Eastern Partnership Index 2017. Charting Progress in European Integration, Democratic Reforms, and Sustainable Development (Editor in Chief: Jeff Lovitt), Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, December 2018, ISBN 978-2-930970-01-1
Regulatory Impact Assessment and Public Consultations: Comparative Models, Lessons Learned & Recommendations for Belarus by Goran Forbici and Jeff Lovitt, Council of Europe, July 2018
Eastern Partnership Index 2015-2016. Charting Progress in European Integration, Democratic Reforms, and Sustainable Development (Editor in Chief: Jeff Lovitt), Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, December 2017, ISBN 978-2-930970-00-4
Civil Participation in Political Decision-Making in the Eastern Partnership Countries – Part Two: Practice and Implementation (Editor: Jeff Lovitt), Council of Europe, April 2017
Time for a New Security Architecture for NATO and Eastern Neighbours by Jeff Lovitt, Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD), Georgia, September 2016
Ukraine - No Shortcuts on the Long Road Ahead by Věra Řiháčková and Jeff Lovitt, EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy/New Diplomacy, November 2015
European Integration Index 2014 for Eastern Partnership Countries (Editor in Chief: Jeff Lovitt), Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum/Open Society European Policy Institute/International Renaissance Foundation/PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), 2015, ISBN 978-80-87804-09-4
The Eastern Partnership Roadmap to the Vilnius Summit. An Assessment of the Roadmap Implementation by the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum May 2012 - October 2013 (Editor: Jeff Lovitt), Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum/PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), 2013, ISBN 978-80-87804-05-6
The Road to an Open Europe. An Advocacy Handbook for Civil Society: Understanding and Influencing EU Policymaking in the Area of Migration and Visa Policies
by Piotr Kaźmierkiewicz (Editor: Jeff Lovitt), PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society),
2012, ISBN 978-80-905105-4-8
The Right Approach to Europe. An Advocacy Handbook for Civil Society: Understanding and Influencing EU Policymaking by Tereza Hořejšová, Piotr Kaźmierkiewicz, Jeff Lovitt, and Věra Řiháčková (Editor: Jeff Lovitt), PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), 2012, ISBN 978-80-905 105-3-1
How to Win Respect and Influence Policymakers. Principles for Effective Quality Controls in the Work of Independent Think-Tanks (Editor: Jeff Lovitt), PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), 2011, ISBN 978-80-905 105-2-4
Deterring Fraud by Informing the Public (3rd edition), European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) (Chapter by Jeff Lovitt: "The information Challenge: Transparency International and Combating Corruption"), European Communities, 2009 , ISBN 978-92-79-06047-2
Democracy's New Champions. European Democracy Assistance after EU Enlargement (Editors: Jacek Kucharczyk and Jeff Lovitt), PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society), 2008, ISBN 978-80-254-2879-5
New Kids on the Block. Can the Visegrad Four Emerge as Effective Players in International Democracy Assistance? by Jacek Kucharczyk and Jeff Lovitt, PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society) Policy Brief, 2008
Is the EU Ready to Put Democracy Assistance at the Heart of European Foreign Policy? by Jeff Lovitt and Věra Řiháčková, PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society) Policy Brief, 2008
The Challenge of the EU Development Co-operation Policy for New Member States by Jeff Lovitt and Eva Rybková, Directorate-General External Policies of the European Union, European Parliament, 2007, EXPO/B/DEVE/2007/33
PASOS Public Policy Centres 2007/8. A Directory of Think-Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Editor: Jeff Lovitt), PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society),
2007, ISBN 978-80-254-0627-4
PASOS Public Policy Centres 2005/6. A Directory of Think-Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Editor: Jeff Lovitt), PASOS (Policy Association for an Open Society),
2005, ISBN: 80-239-5899-2
August 2015- Member, Roster of Experts, GPSA (Global Partnership for Social Accountability), World Bank
January-June 2015 and again since January 2017, Member, Advisory Group on Media Freedom in the Eastern Partnership countries, chaired in 2015 by the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council and in 2017 by the European Commission
2011-2012, 2013-2014: President and Co-Chair, Steering Committee, Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum
October 2013: Founding member, Partnership For Transparency Fund, e.V., Munich, a non-profit fund supporting anti-corruption efforts by civil society organisations in Europe and worldwide (German affiliate of PTF in USA)
2012-2013: Chair of Board, DEMAS - Association for Democracy Assistance & Human Rights, Czech Republic
2010: Jury member, Journalism Prize 2010, Czech Republic, Open Society Foundation Prague
2008-2009: Member, Advisory Board, United Nations Human Development Policy Network (Europe and the CIS)
2007-2008: Member, founding Steering Committee, European Partnership for Democracy
