Annual Report: ECOM's Internal Developments

ECOM’s Executive Director, Vitaly Djuma, along with the new logo. Credit: ECOM.

Following the departure of former Executive Director, Tudor Kovacs, at the end of 2014, ECOM’s Steering Committee called for applications to fill the position and interviewed prospective candidates. After a careful search, Vitaly Djuma was appointed as ECOM’s Executive Director on March 1.

Vitaly has been involved in the response to the HIV epidemic for over 15 years, with a focus on the most affected populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). Vitaly is a staunch advocate of ECOM’s strategic goals.  He has been working with the Coalition since its very beginning, having participated in the 2010 Kyiv Consultation on MSM and HIV in EECA that gave impetus to the creation of ECOM. He later served as a member of ECOM’s Steering Committee. Vitaly has extensive experience in program management, strategic planning, and HIV and human rights advocacy and holds a Masters of International Health from the University of Copenhagen.

In November, ECOM hired Ivan Lavrentjev as its Communications Officer. Ivan has worked in a number of civil society organizations in Estonia and has consulted on communications, public relations, policy briefing, translations, editing, and writing for clients ranging from NGOs and foundations to media and state institutions. Ivan is fluent in Russian, Estonian, and English. Ivan is responsible for ECOM’s external communications, website and social media presence, and communications strategy.

Because of the need for a larger and more professional workspace, following the addition of new staff members, ECOM’s Secretariat moved to a more spacious and modern office in Tallinn, Estonia. The new office has ample workspace for staff members, a meeting area, and storage space for ECOM’s substantial library of literature on MSM and trans* issues. The office is equipped with new computers, printers, and other office supplies. The Secretariat is proud to begin working in the new space and believes the new premises reflect ECOM’s growth over the past year.

In November, shortly before the regional dialogue meeting in Istanbul, ECOM released its new digital identity. A designer was contracted to design a new logo for the Coalition. It consists of six basic colors and the Coalition’s name either in English or in Russian. “We have chosen vivid colors to emphasize the positive output, we are hoping to reach by our activities, addressing human rights, discrimination and male health issues in the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia,” Executive Director, Vitaly Djuma explained. In addition to the new logo, ECOM also commissioned new letterhead, staff business cards, and graphics for the website and social media accounts to correspond to the new digital identity.