Atsuko Hirakawa is the Project Manager of the International IDEA–IIIDEM Cooperation Framework (Global Programmes) under India’s 2026 Chairship of the Council of Member States: ‘Democracy for an Inclusive, Peaceful, Resilient and Sustainable World’. Previously, she was the Coordinator of the Democracy Tracker, a monthly democracy monitoring tool covering 173 countries under the Global State of Democracy Initiative. She was also Programme Officer for the Support to Electoral Processes and Democracy (STEP Democracy) Programme in Myanmar.

Prior to joining International IDEA in 2020, Atsuko served various UN organisations in the areas of democratic governance, elections, gender equality and public outreach. Between 2011 and 2017, she contributed to UNDP Haiti’s programmes supporting the country’s post-earthquake reconstruction processes and the electoral cycle. She was also part of UNDP-led electoral assistance projects in Afghanistan, Armenia, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone, focusing on gender mainstreaming, inclusive participation, capacity building and field operations. Atsuko has extensive experience in project management and coordination, and is part of the United Nations Single Electoral Roster and UNDP’s Global Policy Network Experts Roster for Rapid Response (GPN/ExpRes) in Governance and Elections.