Stephen Cima
- Areas of Expertise
- Asia-Pacific
- Bangladesh
- Burma
- Experts
- Leadership Team
- Pakistan
- Political Parties
- Sri Lanka
Steve Cima is currently IRI’s Regional Director for South Asia, where he oversees the strategic design and implementation of programs within the South Asia region, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
Steve has over 20 years of experience working in politics and on a broad range of democracy and governance programs. Before serving as Regional Director, Steve served as IRI’s Taipei-based Senior Advisor, where he oversaw the Taiwan office, which serves as a regional hub for IRI’s Asia work to encourage deepening ties with Taiwan and incorporating Taiwanese experts into regional programming. While in Taiwan, Steve also served as IRI’s Resident Program Director for Burma, overseeing program implementation, donor and local partner engagement, day-to-day operations, monitoring and evaluation, and strategic communications of IRI programs. Before working in Taiwan, Steve served as IRI’s Resident Program Director in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan. In this capacity, he has trained thousands of political party members in messaging, communications, campaign management, and party polling agent responsibilities. Before joining IRI, Steve spent five years working on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Assistant for Congressman Darrell Issa and as a Professional Staff Member for the House Government Reform Committee. In 2004, he was part of the transition team between the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the U.S. Mission Baghdad in the CPA’s Office of National Security Affairs in Baghdad, Iraq. He has also provided professional support to several congressional campaigns in the United States.
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