Zerihun Lemma, Capacity Development Outreach Coordinator
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Zerihun Lemma Damenu is currently working with the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), as the Capacity Development Outreach Coordinator (CDO) in Ethiopia. Zerihun graduated with and MA degree in “ Curriculum and Instruction” and has an over 25 years experience in managing education and various other social sector projects. He has conducted extensive work involving planning, research, analysis, implementation and assessment of various integrated project works. He has worked both at the grassroots and donor level. At the local level, he has assessed and liaised with diverse Government offices, NGOs and NGO constituencies for the purposes of collaboration.
At IIRR Zerihun heads the Capacity Development Activities in Ethiopia while also specializing in facilitation of Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction and Project Management including Monitoring and Evaluation. He is the lead person in Ethiopia in supporting and Coordinating Disaster Risk Reduction initiatives in the Pastoral areas of Ethiopia.
Designing and conducting international and local level trainings has given him extensive experience in capacity building to local and international institutions in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa such as in Somali land, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. Zerihun has also been involved in the production of educational and training materials as well as publication of various documentations through a writeshop approach which is one of the specialties of IIRR. He was among the lead persons in the production of adult education learning materials, for all levels, during his service for the Ministry of National Defense in Ethiopia. Within the NGOs sector, mainly using the USAID fund for Ethiopia, he has contributed in the preparation of series of training materials on relevant topics; among others, community mobilization for development and social change, project proposal preparation, school-community-partnership, girls’ role in school governance and gender related topics. Within IIRR he has coordinated and led on various major writeshop events and greatly contributed for the publication of “Pastoralist Land Tenure and Use Policy in Ethiopia” and “Culture at the Crossroad “books in Ethiopia. Zerihun has strong experience in guiding development institutions in the formulation, management and troubleshooting of implementation grants. He has a keen ability to plan, manage and keep-up capacity building projects on target.
