Yodit Lemma holds an MSc in Development Studies from SOAS University of London and a BA in International Relations from Agnes Scott College. She has over 15 years of experience working in the area of political and conflict analysis, as well as peace mediation, gender and insecurity in East Africa and the Horn of Africa. Prior to joining the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), where she currently serves as the Senior Program Manager for the Horn of Africa, managing mediation projects in Somalia, Ethiopia and South Sudan, Yodit managed the Small Arms Survey’s Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA) project for Sudan and South Sudan and served as the Regional Conflict, Gender and Insecurities Policy Advisor for Oxfam’s Regional Horn and Central Africa office. In 2012, she worked as a Peace Mediation consultant on South Sudan for HD. Prior to that, she had worked as Political Reporting Officer for the United Nations Mission to South Sudan (UNMISS), during which time she reported on the Lord’s Resistance Army and worked on local reconciliation efforts in Western Equatoria State. From 2010-11, and 2007-08, Yodit also served as the Special Assistant to the UN Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General for Sudan, based in Khartoum. Before that she was a Project Officer with HD’s Africa Regional Office working primarily on electoral dispute resolution efforts in Somaliland as well as gender and mediation across Africa.
