Asmara supports the design and management of programs to build the capacity of civil society and the media. She also leads NRGI’s organizational response to constraints on civic space.

Prior to joining NRGI, Asmara worked for the international Secretariat of the Publish What You Pay coalition, a global network of over 700 civil society organizations advocating for greater transparency and accountability in the natural resource sector. There, she was responsible for coordinating and managing the coalition’s global engagement in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), working closely with the civil society board members at the international level and with PWYP members at country level to ensure civil society takes full advantage of the EITI as a platform to promote good governance in the extractive sector.

Asmara completed a Ph.D. in politics and international relations at Sciences Po in Paris in 2013. Her doctoral research focused on the emergence of the transparency norm in the extractive industries. She is based in Copenhagen, Denmark.