Kathleen Doherty

Kathleen (Katya) Doherty is an agribusiness and agricultural development specialist with more than two decades of international experience advancing food security and inclusive market systems. In her role as Principal for Program Development at CNFA, she contributes to the design of innovative agricultural interventions and supports partnerships that foster resilient, competitive agri-food sectors. Most recently, she has designed and advised on the USAID Economic Foundations for a Resilient Armenia and Agricultural Trade Diversification in Georgia programs, with a focus on market diversification, private sector engagement, and value chain upgrading.

Her career with CNFA spans nearly 20 years. Between 2005 and 2015, she led successful program development efforts with USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, AGRA, the Gates Foundation, and other international donors, expanding CNFA’s agrodealer networks across Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and contributing to the organisation’s first programming in Georgia, Pakistan, and Haiti. From 2015 to 2022, she provided consultancy expertise to programmes in Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova, undertaking value chain assessments, programme design, and results-oriented planning and reporting.

Doherty began her career in Central Asia and the Caucasus, managing business advisory services for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and supporting agribusiness trade and marketing initiatives. She holds a Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Spanish from Colgate University and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from The Pennsylvania State University. She has lived and worked in Angola, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.