Ethiopia staff

Tigist Abate is the Community Based Health Care Specialist in Ethiopia. She has over 15 years of experience in the provision of community and facility based health care services including field emergency case management. She has experience with government district hospitals, government and private nursing schools, and NGOs. She has worked for Medicine Sans Frontiers Holland on HIV/AIDS/Kala-Azar/Nutrition, for the AIDS resource center as a hotline counselor, for IntraHealth International on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and for Jhpiego on training development. Recently, she worked as the Palliative Care Program Coordinator under the International Training and Education Center for Health Ethiopia (I-TECH E).

Azeb Aberra joined Kotebe College Teachers Education and received her diploma in 1990 in the field of Home Economics. In 2008, she got her first degree from Admas University College in Management. She worked at Misrak Flour & Bread factory from 1989-2006 as Sales Clerk, Store Keeper & Sales Supervisor. She worked for the WHO in general service and then joined A&T as Office Assistant.

Dr. Teweldebrhan Hailu Abrha is the Senior Country Director in Ethiopia. He has over 13 years of experience in reproductive health; maternal, newborn, and child health; nutrition; HIV/AIDS; and TB and malaria prevention. Teweldebrhan most recently worked in Ethiopia for the World Health Organization on HIV and nutrition, including prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Prior to that, he was a public health advisor for International Medical Corps in Zimbabwe and Mozambique and its country director for Southern Sudan. For eight years Teweldebrhan worked with the Relief Society of Tigray (REST) on emergency programs and community-based efforts.

Yewelsew Abebe is the Technical Specialist in Human Nutrition. She has over 20 years of experience in teaching, research, program development, and community services. She has worked at Hawassa University in the southern part of Ethiopia as the Department Chairperson for the Rural Development and Family Sciences, Dean for the College of Agriculture, and the Associate Vice President for the University’s Research and Extension program. Recently, she worked as the National Program Manager for the Food and Nutrition Security project under the FAO, Ethiopia.

Samuel Asfaw is the Finance and Operations Manager. He worked for Fida International for over 12 years as Accountant, Finance Head and Finance & Admin Head. From there, he joined AED’s LINKAGES project as the Finance and Admin Manager and helped initiate and complete the project in Ethiopia. He joined another NGO and worked for one and half year as Finance and Administration Director. He was invited by EngenderHealth Ethiopia to work as Finance and Operations Manager for a new MARPS Project funded by USAID, and he worked for this project nearly one year before returning to AED for the A&T Project.

Wondafrash Abera Bedada is the Private Sector Technical Specialist. He received his first degree in economics and his second degree in development economics. He worked for Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation for 14 and a half years as Customer Service Head, District Manager, and Senior Economist. He then joined the Private Sector Development Hub at the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and worked as a Private Sector Development Senior Expert. He has experience in preparing project proposals and terms of references, financial and economic analysis, monitoring and evaluation, project management, conducting studies on private sector issues, and presenting and discussing issues on public-private partnership forums.

Andenet Hailie Godana is the Public Affairs and Advocacy Specialist. He received his first degree in Psychology and in Special Needs Education from the University of Oslo, Norway in 2005. For the last eight years, he has been working in various positions and organizations, as a lecturer at the Addis Ababa University, as a trainer and consultant for various development organizations and as Advocacy, Gender and Adolescent Reproductive Health Programs Officer for the Consortium of Reproductive Health Associations (CORHA) for the last three years.

Tolessa Kebebew Hordoffa is the regional IYCF officer for Oromiya, Ethiopia. Most recently, Tolessa worked as a program monitoring and evaluation coordinator for the maternal and child health and nutrition program for World Vision-Ethiopia. Tolessa also has held positions as a dean and lecturer for Aleph Health Science College at Wolayta Sodo University, a nursing instructor at Mekele University, a manager of a health center in Tigray, and a nurse and head of the maternal and child health department at a hospital in Tigray. Tolessa received his MPH from Addis Ababa University and also completed a BS in nursing.

Peter Gottert, Senior Technical Specialist, has 25 years of experience designing and implementing social and behavior change communication strategies in Africa and elsewhere with an emphasis on streamlining programs and scaling up community-level initiatives. Earlier as COP for HCP Ethiopia, Peter managed HIV prevention programs aimed at meeting ambitious PEPFAR targets. He led and oversaw all program activity development, implementation, and evaluation surrounding HIV prevention among MARPs. Through rigorous evaluation, he has demonstrated new behavior change considerations surrounding sex workers and their networks and expanded the number of participating CSWs and establishments for the Smart Journey program. Previously, as a Communication Specialist for C-Change, Peter designed malaria prevention and PMTCT strategies in Ethiopia. As Deputy Director for the HCP based at John Hopkins University, he provided technical input for communication programs covering all major health issues in over 20 countries, and directly managed projects in Honduras, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and the “Health Competent School Initiative” in Jordan. In 2002, he helped design the first ESHE I communication strategy for SNNPR/Ethiopia. As BCC/Community Engagement Specialist for the AED BASICS project, he assisted the Madagascar MOH in introducing community-based IMCI worldwide.

Shulla Shanko is the regional IYCF officer for SNNPR, Ethiopia. Prior to joining A&T, he worked for PSI/USAID seconded to UNICEF as a nutrition monitor for a therapeutic feeding and community-based nutrition program. He also spent almost six years with the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia, as a coordinator and technical head of Adjie Health Center at Siraro District, manager of a woreda health center office in West Arsi, and an HIV and communicable diseases prevention expert at the Shalla district health office in West Arsi. Shulla is an MPH candidate at Hawassa University/ACIPH and received a BA in both public health and in community development and leadership.

Kalkidan Solomon is the Program Associate for Alive & Thrive Ethiopia. She has worked for several international organizations such as USAID|Deliver, Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and Mercy Corps. She has bachelors degree in management and is working on another bachelors in accounting. Kalkidan’s focus areas are logistics, office management, finance, and operational and program support activities.

Mesfin Tesfay is the M & E Specialist. He has over 20 years experience in population and public health, mixed-method outcome and impact evaluations, operations, and formative and TIPs research. He is skilled in designing and preparing health related IEC/BCC materials and has rigorous knowledge of the application of qualitative and quantitative statistical packages. Mesfin has worked with international and local NGOs, public health consultancy firms, and with the Ethiopian government on maternal and child health, immunization, hygiene and sanitation programs, and solid waste management. Mesfin most recently was the Country Coordinator for USAID/HIP and the Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Advisor for AED/C-Change in Ethiopia. He has an MSc degree in population studies/demography, a BA in FLL, a diploma in public health from the Addis Ababa University, and is an MPH fellow at the University of South Africa.

Sintayehu Mekonnen Weldeyesus graduated from the faculty of Business and Economics, Addis Ababa University in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He gained experience in Irish Aid's Area Based Program (ABP) and Regional Budget Support Programs, as Head of Finance, Internal Auditor for sector bureaus, Program Financial Manager/Program Accountant, and Finance and Administration Officer.

Medhanit Zewale is the BCC Specialist. Before joining A&T, she worked as IE/BCC & Networking Officer for Consortium of Reproductive Health Associations in Ethiopia, which is an umbrella organization with more than 94 members. She has worked for many years in the field of communication and behavior change, particularly in the reproductive health area. Her work usually involves designing and developing IE-BCC messages, materials and training. She has also worked with community based RH organizations and has experience working with the community at the grass-roots level.