ESHETU BEKELE YIMENU, PhD

Address: Bole Sub-city, W 9, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 9279

Mobile phone: +251-***-***-*** OR +251-***-***-***

Email: ad1zfy@r.postjobfree.com

Qualifications Profile

Eshetu is passionate about social and economic policies and how governments, non-government actors and people can work together to fight against poverty and inequality, with the vulnerable communities as the highest priority with demonstrated knowledge and experience of international aid – in the fields of Humanitarian, Development and Peacebuilding (HDP) strategies, processes and structures. I have often been elaborating the HDP Nexus at trainings and workshops and advocating about aid and development alignments for effective resilience building and sustainable development. I am also familiar with EU’s working processes, procedures and methodologies as I have now been working with the EU for more than a decade, including at senior levels. He always wanted to do something for people who are poor and suffering from marginalization, vulnerability and humanitarian crises, to try to make a difference in their lives and livelihoods. Over the past couple of decades, Eshetu’s career took him into a range of roles in various places – worked in many countries and his travels have taken him to more than 70 countries in six continents for studies and work.

Eshetu is an enthusiastic, self-motivated, reliable, honest, responsible and hardworking professional. He is a mature team worker and adoptable to all challenging contexts. He is able to work well both in a team environment as well as using his own initiative. He has a demonstrated ability to successfully interact with individuals of different cultural backgrounds and beliefs. He is able to work under pressure and adhere to strict deadlines.

Eshetu is adept at spearheading development and policy Advocacy, Campaigns and Influencing, project/programs cycle management, government, CSOs and donor relations and partnership and entrepreneurship building and management, capacity building, and events facilitation, as well as managing and building diverse and multicultural teams and staff toward attainment of organizational goals and bottom-line results both in humanitarian and development contexts at all levels.

Eshetu is seasoned and results-driven, strategic and competent institutions and development leader, served as an organization, multiple development and humanitarian programs, advocacy, policy and communications leader in various non-government organizations both in the humanitarian and development contexts in Africa and beyond. Armed with unparalleled work ethic, along with proven capabilities to accomplish increasing levels of responsibilities through excellent leadership and interpersonal and problem-solving aptitudes, he is adept in country strategic planning, development programs planning, joint programming, implementation, partnership building, policy and practice influencing capacity, knowledge management, project and program design and implementation, and skills and knowledge of structures and systems of the EU Delegation in Ethiopia, AU, UN, IGAD, etc.

Areas of Technical expertise/Functional Skills, include:

Demonstrated in-depth understanding and practice of the HDP Nexus from a variety of Humanitarian, Development and Peacebuilding perspectives in a number of programs over the past 20+ years;

More than 20 years of proven institution, multicultural team, and programs leadership experiences in the government, local and international NGOs, and International organizations, in Ethiopia and Africa;

Excellent strategic thinking, planning and leadership; institution and relationship building and change management;

Hands on experiences and expertise in project/program cycle management and MEAL;

Proven track records in policy and policy processes, advocacy, and influencing;

Creating synergies, integration and joint programming mechanisms, including in humanitarian, development, peacebuilding and other programs of a range of actors – including UN agencies, CSOs/INGOs, government, etc. at various structures;

Excellent knowledge and relationships with multiple development and humanitarian agencies and their operational systems and structures in Ethiopia – which is a basis for long-term and sustained interventions to address humanitarian and development needs and reverse conflict and vulnerabilities;

Excellent research, analytical and conceptual skills with excellent communications (in Amharic and English in written, verbal, interpersonal and intercultural contexts) and reporting skills and experiences;

Excellent experiences and ability to work with no supervision and as part of a team;

Very well experienced in working on livelihoods, resilience, food security and nutrition, health, WASH, education, agriculture and rural development, etc. programs leadership and coordination both at the government and non-government settings;

Proven experiences and expertise in training and capacity building as well as knowledge management;

Excellent in government, non-government and community structures relationship, partnership building, networking and management;

Hands on expertise in Advocacy and policy influencing at higher and practice levels;

Excellent leadership, representation, and facilitation skills; etc.

Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Developmental Sociology, with Minor in International Development

July 2014, Honolulu, HI, USA

Graduated with Great Honor and Distinction (Cumulative GPA of 4:00) cum laude

Master of Arts in Development Studies

July 2000, Addis Ababa University and Institute of Social Studies (The Hague)

Graduated with Distinction

Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Social Administration

July 1993, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

Postgraduate level Studies in Development Partnership (Government-CSOs/NGOs-Private Sector, and Development Stakeholders Relations in Sustainable Development, Humanitarian Aid, Trade, etc. March 2008, University of Glasgow, UK

Postgraduate Level Studies in International Development

Making the PRSP/MDGs Work: Opportunities and Challenges for Development Actors

December 2006, University of Antwerp, Belgium

Professional Development

Certificates

–Certificate in Professional Leadership and Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescents Health (RMNCAH)

–Harvard Medical School (Center for Creative Leadership), Boston, USA, 2016

–Certificate in Capacity building for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescents Health (RMNCAH) and Achieving the SDGs in East Africa Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia, 2014

–Certificate in Social Mobilization, CSOs engagement, Advocacy and Media, Fundar. Mexico City, Mexico, 2012

–Certificate in Governance, Human Rights, and Democracy, inWent. Munich, Germany, 2003

–Certificate in Peace and Conflict Management, Northern Ireland, UK, 2008

–Certificate in Poverty and Applied Budget Work/Analysis

Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa (IDASA)/Africa Budget Project and Ford Foundation – Cape Town, South Africa, 2006

–Certificate in Policy Analysis, ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute)

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1998

–Certificate in Leadership and Appreciative Enquiry, PACT – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2007

–Certificate in Improving Governance through Social Accountability

Bangalore, India, 2007

Awards and Honors

Safe Mothers and Newborns Leadership Award:

The UN Millennium Campaigns Commendation

Ambassador for Peace Award:

Universal Peace Federation Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace

Good Ethics Ambassador Award and Professional & Democratic Leader Award:

Vision Ethiopian Congress for Democracy (VECOD)

Rotary International District 9212 Leadership Award

Rotary International, District 9212

Professional Experience

Senior Policy, Advocacy and CSOs/NGOs Capacity Development Expert

International Consulting Expertise (ICE), Belgium for EU Civil Society Programs in Ethiopia,

(October 2021 – November 2023)

Prepared Policy and Advocacy Reference Manual to guide and enhance CSOs influence over various Humanitarian, Development, and Peacebuilding (HDP) programs, strategies and policies in Ethiopia;

Prepared training material and trained various CSOs/NGOs leaders to build their program planning, implementation, and monitoring & evaluation capacities; policy influencing and advocacy works, etc.;

Created 4 working groups on Peacebuilding, Youth unemployment, Gender Equality and Women Empowerment, and Delivering Basic Development and Humanitarian supports to the most vulnerable communities in Ethiopia. I have effectively coordinated these programs for over three years and led the connection and joint programming of the Humanitarian-Development-and Peacebuilding (HDP) to ultimately build peaceful co-existence through a sustainable humanitarian and development programs and building resilience;

I was also leading a very successful women empowerment program through an innovative policy advocacy approach to ensure community resilience that could contribute to sustainable development. So, the women and girls group by just being empowered become agents of changes for their community groups resilience to violence and other challenges of inequality and economic issues;

I have also been leading, coaching and mentoring about 50 CSOs leaders on how to integrate policy influencing and advocacy into their HDP programming, implementation and Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning processes during the 3 years period, I was also further elaborating to the group as a Team Leader on EU’s procedures, processes and methodologies in their engagement and working relationships;

I have developed policy influencing strategies, advocacy tactics, communications plans, media and high-level engagement strategies, etc. for all the four program groups under the EU Civil Society Support program over the last 3 years and led the working groups on how systematically engage and advocate to influence policies (including the implementation of HDP Nexus) at higher and practice levels in Ethiopia.

Senior Strategic Planning and International CSOs Expert

FCG Sweden and INTRAC UK for preparing 10 years strategic Transformational Plan for the Authority of Civil Society Organizations in Ethiopia (ACSO) - August 2021 – December 2021

Designed instruments, led field works and facilitated multi-sectoral consultations in almost all regions;

Led the strategic planning frameworks and prepared various analysis (context analysis, CSOs mapping and classifications, etc.);

Organized and facilitated feedback gathering workshops at the national and regional levels;

Prepared CSOs Sustainability Index for Ethiopia which was the major framework for ACSO’s strategic plan; and

Prepared the final ten years Transformational Strategic Plan of ACSO along with the Swedish and British colleagues.

Senior Consultant for Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) Program in Ethiopia

GIZ and Prime Minister’s office (2019 – 1 year)

Prepared Rehabilitation, reintegration and livelihoods strategies

Led and undertook partnership analysis, as well as training and implementation programs; and

Advised the GIZ and the PM offices on the full cycle of the DDR program.

Senior long-term International Consultant for GIZ’s Cross-Border programs in Ethiopia and Sudan

Undertook baseline studies for the two countries;

Led the program intervention designs and advised both governments and the GIZ;

Designed and prepared multiple stakeholders for the cooperation and implementation;

Designed the livelihoods, IDPs, Refugee and pastoral communities HDP programs, etc.

Policy, Advocacy, CSOs/NGOs engagement and capacity building, country and program Strategic Planning, Governance, Poverty, Development, Research and Training – Sept 2019 - Present

Consulted various CSOs/I NGOs on issues of gender, migration, refugees, disability, children, most vulnerable community groups, program design, strategic planning, policy influencing, capacity development, partnership building and engagement, etc.

Worked for the World Bank, UNDP, UN-WOMEN, MDP, and various international organizations in different countries as an International Consultant;

Provided trainings to the EECMY-DASSC leaders and prepared Policy and Advocacy Reference Manual on Advocacy, leadership, and policy influencing;

Carried out research on the roles of CSOs and non-state actors in development and poverty reduction (within the context of SDGs) in Ethiopia;

Consulted CSOs and NGOs on Rights and Advocacy and advised them on engagement and influencing as well as partnership building issues;

Formulated policy and practice influencing tactics and strategies, as well as media and community empowerment and engagement tactics for different CSOs;

Provided consultations on how to engage at policy and practice levels and demonstrated effective HDP integrated into the policy influencing and delivery in difficult contexts;

Served as a Senior International Consultant for Sheila McKenzie Foundation on IDP, migration, and how to change the vulnerability situations of the most vulnerable community groups and build their resilience through empowerment, advocacy, campaigns, HRBA, and policy influencing; etc.

Senior Programs Manager

Save the Children International African Union (AU) and Pan Africa Program

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia August 2018–end of September 2019

Development, Humanitarian, Peacebuilding, programs development and management;

Policy and Advocacy capacity development to the African CSOs/NGOs, youth, women and conflict and vulnerability affected children and girls, government, etc.;

Facilitated in engaging the African CSOs, most vulnerable Communities groups (including refugee and migrant children, girls, women, and youth, among others) at the AU, IGAD, and Regional Organizations to influence policies and get policies right for the poor and vulnerable;

Coordinated the policy advocacy working groups at the ESARO – both for the development, humanitarian and Peacebuilding advocacy at the AU;

In this role I have effectively carried out capacity needs assessments on African CSOs, helped the AU office in Identification of intervention areas, and CSO partners’ selection and built CSOs engagement and influencing capacity, facilitated discussions with range of actors, provided trainings on partnership and engagement, prepared strategy and tactics for various organizations in Africa, managed donors programs in these areas and the funds and teams;

Presided over elaboration and advocating the HDP Nexus and its framework for development and resilience building;

Trained the African CSOs on how to integrate development programs with humanitarian response programs, silencing the guns/peacebuilding programs, with that of the advocacy and policy influencing;

Managed the programs, shared knowledge and experiences at the continental level and led the reporting on performances and progresses, as well as donors’ compliances, etc.

Deputy Country Director for Program Development Quality, Advocacy and Communications Portfolios

Save the Children International (SCI), Khartoum, Sudan, 2017-2018

Rendered expert management to senior leadership and strategic vision to the Sudan country program, along with program development and management team and built their capacity;

Represented Save the Children International in country and globally;

Effectively led the development of proposals for fundraising and managed significant amount of funds for a range of humanitarian, development, peacebuilding operations;

Developed country advocacy and communications strategies and built staff advocacy and communications capacity across the organization

Led the development of Country Strategic Plan for SCI in Sudan and shared best practices to the rest of the SCI movement in the Eastern and Southern African region;

Built and managed multi-cultural staff at national and regional branch offices;

Carried out daily duties such as generating country reports, supervising staff on daily operations, and leading technical assistance, and knowledge management both at the head office and field offices;

Effectively managed monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning (MEAL) of all donor projects and programs;

I was also elaborating on aid coordination to the partners, particularly focusing on HDP Nexus for resilience building as Sudan is development, conflict and humanitarian crisis affected country;

Led Education, health and nutrition, child rights and governance, child protection, child poverty, wash, livelihoods and resilience, Advocacy, conflict and peacebuilding programs and teams across programs in Sudan;

Established great relationships and partnership with government ministries, donors, private sector groups, country offices, & the regional officer for Eastern and Southern African countries & center;

Worked on numerous policy-level engagements, capacity building on quality programming and implementation to government partners, advocacies, and research plans;

Provided program quality oversight, led, and coordinated implementing partners, created knowledge management forums;

Engaged media and created visibility;

Organized and facilitated regular learning and sharing platforms and built partners capacity on several areas; etc.

Director Research, Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications and Child Rights Governance

Save the Children International (SCI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2014 - 2017

Assumed full responsibility in introducing program strategies; writing fundraising proposals and reports; and developing processes regarding country strategic planning and implementation;

Developed advocacy and campaigns strategies for the country office and shared experiences to the rest of the region (Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office – ESARO). Built the capacity of SCI team across programs, field offices and partners and successfully managed staff and implementations of the strategy;

Evaluated big development and humanitarian operations and programs throughout the country;

Designed and coordinated joint programs, partnership and discussions, capacity building, and integration while keenly tracking, monitoring and evaluating, and handling knowledge as well as participating in global programs representing SCI country office;

Presided over training, workshops on integrating advocacy and policy influencing into sectoral projects and programming, and policy discussions to hone skills of SCI staff and other professionals;

Led Health and Nutrition, Education, WASH, Social Protection, Migration, Livelihoods, food security and resilience programs, Strategy Development and maintained oversight of progress along with team and CSOs and government partners;

I was Team Leader for more than 3 years in leading health, nutrition, education, livelihoods and resilience communities of practices working groups. I was leading the group to focus more on integration and HDP joint programming for resilience building and shock mitigation measures;

Spearheaded country programs and strategies through policy lenses to ensure linkages to sector ministries priorities and objectives and programs, as well as implications on the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable Children, refugee, migrant, and host communities (in the humanitarian support camps);

Directed and effectively handled four key portfolios including coordinating with local civil society organizations, national, sub-national, and local government and other global offices to expand reach and policy impacts;

Managed donors’ coordination and policy; managed government and CSOs partners, built their policy influencing and implementation capacities, engaged the media, and effectively communicated the outcomes locally and globally. Documented and prepared reports to the HQ and donors;

Co-chaired the Global Health, Nutrition, and accountability Policy Advocacy Task Group to represent the organization across the movement in 120 countries and members;

Performed key responsibilities which involved spearheading donor programs; supervising senior personnel and program budgets for country office and field offices; and contributing to the design and review of country strategic planning processes

Coordinated humanitarian response team and designed advocacy strategy for humanitarian responses in East Africa;

Developed skills and capabilities of the SCI staff, government, business and community, children’s groups, and other allies through training, awareness-raising workshops, and policy discussions.

Executive Director, Poverty Action Network of CSOs/INGOs in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2005 - 2014

Managed the process of developing coherent and cutting-edge strategy focused on poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs), MDGs, plan for accelerated and sustained development to end poverty (PASDEP), growth and transformation plans (GTP), and SDGs, as well as various innovative projects and programs;

Fulfilled key role in strengthening partnerships and initiating innovative humanitarian and development projects and programs for the member CSOs;

Established new manuals, initiatives, capacity development strategies, and action-oriented research studies and disseminated them for policy inputs;

I was co-chairing (with the UNDP & WB Country Representatives) the aid and development coordination as well as joint programming and alignment of aid (both humanitarian, development and peacebuilding) to the government programs in development programs and humanitarian interventions to build sustainable development and resilient communities, especially in drought affected and vulnerable geographic areas in Ethiopia;

I was also playing lead roles in elaborating (at various partners dialogue workshops) HDP Nexus framework to all the development partners within the context of global acts (such as: MDGs, beyond 2015 agenda, Paris declaration on aid effectiveness, Acra Agenda for Action, Good Donorship, Addis Ababa Action Agenda, etc.) to enhance disaster preparedness for effective response and to build back better (or becoming strongly resilient) in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction – especially to the joint interventions in the drought and conflict affected areas of the country;

Developed context specific advocacy strategies and led implementations across the network members (more than 90 CSOs, INGOs and Coalitions) and regional chapters in Ethiopia;

Introduced Social Accountability mechanisms and CRC (Citizens Report Card) to the Ethiopian CSOs and directed influential social accountability mechanism and contributed in restructuring the agenda on governance, transparency, empowerment and accountability and enabled CSOs to engage with evidence and influence government and donors’ policies on development, humanitarian and peacebuilding agendas.

Served as a Team leader in coordinating the two rounds (took more than two years) of countrywide social accountability surveys – which had helped in engaging the CSOs with evidence in shaping the sustainable development and poverty reduction programs and strategies in Ethiopia; I designed instruments and published reports and used them as inputs for advocacy, the country’s 5 years development planning and M&E framework development;

I was a Team Leader for more than 4 years in coordinating and guiding the Health, Education, Rural Development and Environment, WASH, Gender, Youth and Children, PWDs working groups in Ethiopia;

Provided continuous capacity building trainings on a range of issues to the government bureaus and CSOs, donors staff and the business – at federal and lower structures;

Demonstrated skills in supporting and engaging in public campaigning and high-level advocacy & policy influencing platforms – including at the DAG (Development Assistance Group), the Federal Parliament, Annual Progress Review (APR) meetings, EU platforms, etc.;

Led complex development and humanitarian programs such as localizing the MDGs in the Ethiopian context program, social protection, safety nets, disaster risk management and resilience, migration, livelihoods, gender, education, health and wellbeing, WASH, micro-finance, disability and inclusive development, child and youth development, environment, etc.;

Led and ensured joined-up strategic planning throughout sectors with a focus on program integration and the strengthening of multi-sectoral coordination and cooperation approaches to ensure sustainability and resilience;

Led the Disability Inclusive Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP) and MDGs for more than 7 years and advocated for the rights of PWDs, the poor, marginalized groups/minorities, and vulnerable community groups in Ethiopia and Africa, including through GCAP (Global Call to Action against Poverty);

I was the team leader of GCAP Project in Ethiopia for 7 years. One of the campaign areas was more and better aid for practicing and strengthening Humanitarian, development and peacebuilding Nexus;

Maintained oversight of progress against sector strategies, programs, and plans in coordination with field and HQ Technical Team;

Established successful regional chapters to mobilize citizens and community groups and created strong partnership locally, regionally, and globally. This structures helped in empowering citizens and community groups to create demand and work for poverty reduction and building resilience;

Represented the organization and Ethiopian and African CSOs/NGOs at national, continental and global forums – including at the G8/G20 summits, UN meetings, WB & IMF annual meetings, etc. and made presentations;

Designed and implemented MEAL for various projects and programs for the whole of my stay at PANE.

During this period I was also representing the African and Global CSOs/INGOs as a co-chair to the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) to eradicate poverty and injustice and enhance sustainable development and human rights.

I was also leading for over 3 years the Ethiopian and African CSOs in designing the beyond 2015 agenda, especially 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs) to include sustainable global financing, aid coordination for humanitarian-development and peacebuilding nexus, people-centeredness, gender sensitiveness, becoming human rights based, with a focus on the most vulnerable and marginalized and not to leave anyone behind as well as empowering communities to enable them become active citizens and resilient to shocks.

Development, Governance, CSOs, and Policy Advisor to Sub-Saharan Africa

International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington D.C., 2007 - 2011

Provided continent-wide advices regarding social and economic policies, governance and accountability issues, and development performances (MDGs/SDGs) for more than 3 years;

Carried out research on some of development and poverty reduction challenges of the SSA;

Conducted presentations with regard to the above issues and supported the IMF on where and how to effectively focus on supporting the development, poverty reduction and governance programs including on entrepreneurship development in Africa;

Shared knowledge and advised on innovative relations with country governments and the continental structures as well as CSOs and the importance of peoples participation in development;

Applied industry expertise on rural and urban development, health and education, poverty reduction, food security, social accountability, humanitarian and sustainable development programs, and governance matters, etc.

Director, EU Non-State Actors Capacity Building Program, Cotonou Framework

European Union Delegation, Civil Society Program, 2007 - 2011

Effectively managed the European Union CSOs capacity building program and offered excellent leadership on the African Caribbean and Pacific countries platform along with the National Authorization Office at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation (MoFEC), and the EU Delegation as well as non-state-actors (NSA) in Ethiopia on the tri-partite development and poverty reduction as well as partnership building in development, humanitarian responses, trade, and poverty reduction;

In my 5 years leadership, I was more focusing on elaborating the essence of the nexus, the Cotonou framework, donors aid architecture, partnership issues and brought together the right stakeholders (from CSOs, donors, private sector and the government) across the nexus to build a shared vision informed by the studies and dialogues towards resilience building and sustainable communities;

Improved skills in Advocacy and Policy influencing in the tri-partite relations in the developing countries – including advocating at the EU Parliament in Brussels;

Established a network of NSAs (Non-State-Actors) working on the tri-partite (Government-CSOs-EU) partnerships which was a new set up that enabled all the state, CSOs and business to work together toward development and poverty reduction (through appropriate and joint Humanitarian, Development and Peacebuilding programs and beyond) agenda, towards improving the lives and livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable community groups build resilience to shocks and sustainable development;

Took accountability and leadership in organizing and facilitating national dialogue and debate forums regularly, including with the ministers, WB and EU ambassador, along with other major actors such as donors-CSOs-government - triangular policy discussions.

Significantly built the capacity of CSOs and government agencies in a range of areas, but with more focus on partnership and HDP Nexus both at the federal and regional levels through implementing CSOs development, humanitarian, advocacy, and peacebuilding programs for more than 5 years.

Represented the entire CSOs/NSAs at the EU parliament,

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