Ethiopia

Tekalegn Tlejo, from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, completed a Bachelor’s degree in public health from Jimma University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Lead Star College of Management and Leadership. He has more than eleven years of experience both in humanitarian and development projects in Ethiopia. He assumed multiple roles such as public health team leader, program manager, camp coordinator, deputy field coordinator, field coordinator, and program coordinator in various humanitarian nongovernmental organizations. He is currently working as deputy head of the humanitarian program at HelpAge International Ethiopia’s national office. He is a passionate humanitarian worker with exceptional commitment, empathy, hard work, and conviction for humanitarian principles.

Abenezer is a Human Resource Professional with almost ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Abenezer earned a Bachelor of Art in Public Administration and Development Management from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. While working as a Senior Human Resource Officer with CARE International in Ethiopia, he helped the organization to recruit, train, and retain a high performing workforce and implemented gender equality program in recruitment to increase female employees in the organization. Previously, Abenezer worked as a HR & Admin Manager with International Rescue Committee Ethiopia program under USAID and other donors funded programs. Through these experiences, he has developed strong people management skills, communication skills, and created welcoming workplaces for employees, where they can strive to do their best. Abenezer enjoys focusing on the topics of economic development, democracy, and human rights and has a strong passion of reading books.

Host Organization: Panorama Global

Role at Host Organization: As a Talent Acquisition Fellow, Abenezer will help Panorama Global source, identify, screen, and hire individuals for a broad range of roles across the organization affiliates. The Fellow’s role includes: inputting the overall hiring strategy of the organization to ensure the teams consist of a diverse set of qualified individuals; ensuring the staffing needs of the company are being met, with a long-term talent strategy in mind; and devising and implementing sourcing strategies to build pipelines of potential applicants, such as employer branding initiatives.

Belete Hiruy Kellil has over ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector in Africa. He earned his master’s degree in Development Evaluation and Management from the University of Antwerp and a bachelor’s degree in Educational Psychology from Addis Ababa University. Belete is an International Certified Project Manager and a Fellow of the American Academy of Project Management. During his tenure as the Regional Partnerships Advisor at SOS Children’s Villages International in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, Belete significantly improved grant procurement, management, partnership building and donor relations in country offices in Mozambique, Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia. Previously, Belete established and managed Handicap International’s monitoring and evaluation systems in Ethiopia. He has extensive work experience with multiple donors in both development programming and emergency response. He is a board member of a nonprofit organization working with refugees and displaced populations, and a founding member of a local nonprofit organization working on peace building and conflict resolution in Ethiopia. Through these experiences, Belete has gained solid skills in leadership, coaching and mentoring, project management, M&E, donor engagement, and grant management. Additionally, Belete enjoys focusing on youth development and innovation.

Selamawit Mersha has seven years of experience in Program Management, Program Development and Quality in the non-profit sector. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Masters of Social Work from Addis Ababa University. Selamawit is a RISE UP Youth Champions Initiative Fellow, Alumni of Young Leaders Training Program, and Alumni of Young Policy Makers of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Her professional background includes working on Migration, Livelihoods, Youth Development, SRHR and Gender equality programs. While she served as a Livelihood Specialist in Save the Children International Ethiopia, Selamawit improved the lives of Young Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants under the Ethiopia Migration Program supported by FCDO through Socio-economic reintegration, resilience and self-reliance programs. Previously, Selamawit improved the Sexual reproductive health and wellbeing of young people in Ethiopia through life skills, advocacy and meaningful engagement, provision of YFS and capacity building of partners through the GUSO SRHR program funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Selamawit has formed and led Youth Advocate groups for YNSD and FAWE Ethiopia who advocated for social issues such as SRHR, gender equality and meaningful engagement. Selamawit also improved the lives of young Ethiopians under projects funded by RISE UP, CSSP, Embassy of Finland and Packard Foundation. Selamawit has consulted government stakeholders, youth groups and nonprofit organizations on Program Development and Quality, Youth Engagement and Gender mainstreaming. Through these experiences Selamawit has developed skills in program management, technical and consulting expertise, and capacity building. Selamawit is interested in Youth Development, Gender Equality, and Behavioral Science.

Host Organization: ideas42

Role at Host Organization: At ideas42, Selamawit will serve as a Behavioral Design Fellow: contributing to different behavioral design projects in Global Health and participating in professional development opportunities, specifically around behavioral science and program design, with additional opportunities to contribute to research approaches.

Daniel Worku Demissie serves as an Assistant Professor, Social Worker, and Career Center Coordinator at the University of Gondar. He has experience taking part in community service projects, training, and research activities. Daniel ran the office of the career center since 2018 and he has been working to create jobs for youth. While working in this office, he prepared various training manuals for students and faculty members. Additionally, Daniel provided soft skill training for youths and recent graduates, so as to let them find jobs or create their own. As the Project Coordinator, he has been running the Debate and Public Speaking/dialogue for Sustainable Peace Club at the University of Gondar since 2019. Besides this, he provided counseling services and training for members of the community based organization Orphan and Elderly Support. Lastly, he also provides psychological and mental health support for isolated individuals due to COVID-19 since August 2020.

Ephrem has over eight years of experience in the nonprofit and social enterprise sectors. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Dire Dawa University. While working as founding Executive Director of SunEko Art for Social Development, he designed and executed a social circus for peace and development programs where children and youth can acquire the therapeutic benefits of art. Since 2013, he reached more than ten million radio listeners through a bi-weekly radio program on areas of mental health, peace, child protection, education, reconciliation, employability, and youth empowerment. He helped improve the mental and psycho-social health of more than two thousand women and youth every year, using a community-based social enterprise project. Previously, he worked as a remote Regional Content Manager for Zeno Radio, a technology-based media company. Ephrem also worked with Save the Children International, Handicap International, Population Services International, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Pact, Reach for Change, Growth Africa, and Total S.A. on human resource capacity building programs and social entrepreneurship business models. He organized a youth networking and empowerment event which reached more than five thousand youth. WHO Africa awarded Ephrem the “Top 30 WHO Health Innovator Challenge” honor in 2019. Through these diverse experiences, he developed skills in project designing and coordination, volunteer management, media, and capacity building. Ephrem is passionate about innovative projects on mental health, social entrepreneurship, and youth empowerment.

Host Organization: Making Cents International

Role at Making Cents International: At Making Cents International, Ephrem will serve as the Youth Engagement Fellow: supporting multiple youth engagement activities for YouthPower2: Learning & Evaluation (YP2LE), a USAID-funded project implemented by Making Cents International that is designed to build, expand, and disseminate Positive Youth Development (PYD) evidence and learning.

Melat has seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Addis Ababa University. As Executive Director of the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) of Ethiopia, she has developed new programs in the areas of economic empowerment, girls’ education, reproductive health (including HIV/AIDS), and youth leadership development. Under Melat’s leadership, the YWCA has greatly expanded, doubling in staff and opening two branch offices in Oromiya and Amhara regional states. Through her representation of the YWCA in official forums and conferences, Melat has also enabled the establishment of new local, regional, and international partnerships. Melat expresses a passion for women’s empowerment and seeks to work in an organization that improves the lives of society’s most vulnerable members.

Host Organization: Global Kids

Yonas possesses nine years of progressive professional experiences in the design, implementation and evaluation of Public Health projects with a particular focus on HIV Prevention and Youth Reproductive Health. He has been employed by different nonprofit and international nonprofits, such as Christina Children Funds, Handicap National, Concern Worldwide, U.S. Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (US-CDC), Intra-Health International, Pathfinder International and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He has a background in Sociology and Social Administration and recently obtained his European MSc Degree in International Health from University College London and Copenhagen University. Yonas has been providing technical assistance and capacity building support for the implementation of the PEPFAR fund through US-CDC and USAID funded projects. He has extensive experience in HIV prevention programs particularly among youth and Most-at-Risk Population groups (MARPs). He has strong knowledge regarding behavior change, and has played a great role in the national effort to cause desired behavior changes in young people and MARPs to adopt safer sexual practices for the reduction of HIV incidence and prevalence.

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Host Organization: Population Action International

Tigist has eight years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Education majoring information Technology from Addis Ababa University, and a Diploma in Accounting from Addis Ababa Commercial College of Commerce. She has previously worked as the Senior Grants Compliance Officer with WaterAid Ethiopia which is an international nonprofit organization concerned with the WASH crisis: water, sanitation and hygiene. Previously, Tigist worked for Pact, ICAP Columbia University and Health Poverty Action as Grant Officer and Finance Administration Officer. Her partnership experience provided a great deal of experience in bringing together institutional capabilities and human resources to tackle common problems that are often beyond the capacity of a single organization or groups. Tigist has developed strong skill in project coordination, reporting, budget preparation, grant proposal writing, fundraising techniques and grant management, for USAID, CDC, EU, and DFID donor grants. Tigist volunteers with Rotary International, and has a strong passion for education, social entrepreneurship, and gender and youth empowerment.

Host Organization: CARE USA

Role at Host Organization: Tigist will be responsible for assisting with the financial management of advocacy department of CARE USA. In addition, she will assist with monitoring and reporting of international advocacy grants, and she will have the opportunity to learn about how CARE utilizes advocacy to help achieve its mission. Tigist will also support the women and girls lead global international advocacy program—an advocacy initiative that receives quarterly reports from offices in five countries.

Yemisrach has nine years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from University of Gondar. She finished her postgraduate studies in the field of Sociology from Indra Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). While working as a Program Manager with Talent Youth Association, she led and coordinated sexual and reproductive health programs, and helped improve the health of youth. Since December 2006, she worked in different nonprofit organizations as a Monitoring and Evaluation officer, Capacity Building Officer, Evaluator, Program Coordinator, Project Officer, and also as a Social Worker. Yemisrach has extensive and contextual knowledge on youth development, sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, women’s empowerment, economic and social justice, emergency response, social accountability and good governance. Through these experiences, she developed strong program coordination and implementation, leadership, communication, and strategic planning skills. Yemisrach is interested in youth leadership, good governance, human rights, and conflict resolution. She enjoys reading, walking, and communicating with people.

Host Organization: Population Action International (PAI)

Role at Host Organization: Yemisrach will oversee the Monitoring and Evaluation of PAI’s advocacy and research work to improve reproductive health and rights. She will work with program staff to collect M&E data. She will also be responsible for synthesizing and condensing the collected data into monthly and quarterly reports.

Gashaye has five years of experience in the nonprofit sector and earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Gondar and a master’s degree in social work from Addis Ababa University. While serving as the executive director of Guraghe People´s Self-help Development Organization (GPSDO), he developed and effectively implemented various projects focusing on women’s empowerment, education, social accountability, reproductive health, and population and health issues. As the executive director of GPSDO, he takes the lead role in transforming the lives of women, children and marginalized people in the rural areas of Ethiopia. Prior to GPSDO, Gashaye worked for different nonprofit organizations on child education and protection, HIV/AIDS and youth empowerment projects funded by USAID, UNICEF, DFID and other donors. He also worked as a lecturer in two public universities in Ethiopia where he developed strong research and training skills. Besides his professional career, Gashaye is a songwriter and enjoys writing poems on socio-spiritual issues.

Host Organization: United Way Worldwide

Role at Host Organization: Gashaye will represent the Africa & Caribbean Team as part of International Network (IN) Operations & Engagement. He will support Caribbean Expansion, identify funding opportunities for Network partners and drive data collection processes for the regions to inform strategic planning and recommendations.