Etsehiwot Negash Kebret

Etsehiwot is a young Ethiopian woman who is passionate about development work and youth empowerment. She wants to work towards engaging more youth in political, social and economic spheres particularly in policy making and development initiatives. By working with government and non-governmental agencies, she wants to ensure that the voices of youth are heard, and that their input is effectively used in development projects.

She has worked at the UNICEF (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene department) and UN Women country offices in Ethiopia. After moving to Geneva, Etsehiwot interned at the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework Task Team (CRRF) at UNHCR and then continued her work with refugees by doing an internship with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), where she was a humanitarian policy intern working on NRCs role in the Global Compact on Refugees. She has also led a student-led NGO in Geneva where she redesigned the “Home to Home” projected which worked towards integrating local refugees in Geneva.

She received a two-year leadership training through Webster University Geneva’s leadership program, and received departmental honors from the International Relations department and the Walker School of Business and Technology in Webster University. She was also the recipient of the Undergraduate Leadership Award and the Undergraduate Community Service Award in 2019. 

Etsehiwot holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Economics with a minor in Computer Science and a certificate in International Human Rights from Webster University in Geneva, Switzerland. She is currently pursuing an MSc in Development Studies at the LSE.