Spotlight: Umed Partov, S-CAR MS Student

Umed Partov is a current S-CAR Masters student who holds a BA in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Montana. “I decided to come to S-CAR to study the role of non-violent religious identity in countering violent extremism and terrorism." Umed believes that academic research on counter-terrorism is in its infancy stage, and perhaps that is why the international community had failed to address and fully understand this phenomenon. Says Umed, "S-CAR has prominent scholars and the largest network of professionals in conflict resolution field, which is an invaluable asset for my academic development and research."

Umed has worked for a number of organizations including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office in Tajikistan, United States Agency for International Development in Tajikistan, the Center for Central and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Montana, the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Tajikistan to the United Nations in New York City, and the United Nations Population Fund in New York among others. In his recent position as a National Program Officer at OSCE in Tajikistan, Umed implemented capacity-building projects for mid-and-senior level border officials from 57 OSCE participating states. In this position, he “initiated and coordinated International Cross-Border Research Conference on Evolving Transnational Threats and Border Security, organized high-level roundtables and thematic events on ISAF withdrawal from Afghanistan and possible security scenarios for Central Asian countries, drug trafficking, weapon smuggling, human trafficking, illegal migration, and other current security related issues.”  

One of the very important projects that Umed worked on, of which he is very proud, was USAID's Tajikistan Safe Drinking Water Project. "I conducted project monitoring and evaluation to ensure the project's progress towards desired outcomes and objectives."