Ethiopia
Name: Desalegn Terecha
Country: Ethiopia
Email: desalegn813@gmail.com
Website: Desalegn Terecha @linkedin
Birthdate: 12/06/1979
Education: MA Degree in Social Anthropology
Occupation: General Manager of Holistic Consultancy Service for Development
Please describe your vision of a world that works for everyone.
My vision is to engage in community particularly youth empowerment programs irrespective of their economic, social, political, cultural and other backgrounds. I want to support them to develop out their potential to change and transform themselves, their community, as well as their nations and the world at large. I aspire to develop provide psychosocial support for unemployed and despaired youths in sub Saharan Africa and beyond. I have good supportive relationships, good capacity-building skills. I have experiences of working with vulnerable youths such as OVCs, street children, elderly people.
I want to see youth to lead meaningful life based on self awareness, self confidence, goal orientation as well as strength-personal entrepreneur and business skill competencies. To create positive community particularly youth development program, I want to establish one permanent institutions and other several satellite and mobile programs in Ethiopia and other parts of Sub Saharan Africa. The Institute will build developmental assets, opportunities and personal qualities that community particularly young people need to have for development by avoiding risks and to blossom.
What do you see as the most pressing problems facing the world today?
Climate change: Continuous reduction of farmland to degradation by frequent flooding and drought the crops. Due to this livestock and other livelihoods of the community are subjected to damage to climate change induced hazards. This coupled with the continually decreasing farm size have serious impact threatening communities’ adaptive capacity and livelihood improvements. No major entrepreneurial, business skill and industrial activities, as a result most of the population are un-employed or under employed in most parts of the world. Consequently, many of the jobless youth are migrating to urban areas and Western countries and are being engaged in different antisocial practices such drinking alcohol, stealing, extremism and easily radicalization by religious sects, gambling, chewing, drug abuse such as khat. Elderly people have resorted to eke out a living from the natural resources such as fuel wood selling, with the vegetation resources in the hills the primary target and begging. Girls or females are engaging in prostitutions and exposed to HIV/AIDS and other STIs.
Low standard of living, hunger and poverty: could also stem from low level of food management capacity after production, lack of entrepreneurial initiatives as many farmers labor under uncertainty about how to process, preserve and package the products in order to catch-up with season related opportunities among others.
How do you feel these problems could best be solved?
Empowering rural producers and other interested youths to develop out their potentials to understand the concepts related to entrepreneurship and can work towards business goals and organize themselves with Self Help Groups with their own resources. Empowering them to believe and work on their great business idea instead of waiting miracle to happen without industriousness/principles of self help entrepreneurship and its cost. Building a strong people’s institution, Self-sustaining in three years, support groups pursuing ventures are a major agro business strategy, Bringing people together and empowering them to achieve, building both individual and collective assets for individual and group needs in horticulture, poultry and potato producers or potential areas.
Profile
I, Desalegn Terecha have been graduated from Haramaya University (the then Alemaya University) with bachelor’s degree in the field of Social Science in 2003. I also held Master’s degree in the field of Sociology and Social Anthropology from the same university in 2007. I have worked for the public sector; non-government organizations; bilateral project and private sector for the last 12 years at different capacities (at managerial positions such as Lecturer, research and community Service Director for 4 years at the Agarfa College of Agriculture and Samara University, as Social Development, Family and Community, Project Coordinator, Planning, Monitoring and valuation Officer as well as Program Coordinator with Cooprazional Intrnazional-COOPI, SOS-Children’s Village Addis Ababa, and Ethiopian National Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy about 5 years, as well as consultant for 3 years).
I have worked for self help group and cooperative Promotion, department Head, disaster and emergency coordinator, team leader and at different expert position, cooperative credit and marketing officer, savings and credit cooperatives officer. I have developed different operational technical guidelines and training manuals and references and provided extensive trainings to Governmental and Non Governmental Organization, experts at zone and woreda levels and for cooperatives/unions staffs and leaders.
Starting from 2015, I am working as Consultant for the identification of capacity Building thematic areas for community based organizations and nongovernmental organization and providing trainings and have developed about training manuals and documents for NGOs and FBO capacity building purpose. These projects are working in different regions and districts. The project aimed to develop about self help group and, unemployed youth entrepreneurship and life skill spirit and promote profitable business and farming in the project area. In his assignment as consultant additional work being done for the World Vision project, I delivered important manuals and recommendations for the success of the project. In the process I have managed to learn World Vision Ethiopia’s development policies and procedures, and gained knowledge and skill in implementing similar donor funded projects.
I have managed and run different community development services by joining a nonprofit, profit making, faith based organizations as well as consulting firms. Currently, I Desalegn is working as Volunteer for Ray ex-leprosy affected women Hand Craft Working Group, and Action for Humanity and Community Development Organization through advice, writing proposal, editing projects concepts notes, based in Addis Ababa.
As lead Trainer on Psychosocial/Life Skill Support, Business Skill and entrepreneurship development for World Vision Ethiopia and others, I am facilitating the enabling working environment for organizations; promote and strengthen their capacity and partnership coordination and manage capacity building services for about NGOs, FBOs and others with partner organizations.
Personal interests, dreams and goals in life:
Enables the involved youth and community members to be entrepreneurs who work in a “hands on” in multiple self help business through providing training on entrepreneurship, business skill management, leadership, personality development, change management and in order to develop successful business to become competent and beneficial for the 21st century;
Allows youth to engage in open dialogue, community service projects, education in health and wellness and develop awareness and solutions to issues that face their own communities;
Focuses on improving the confidence and self-image of young adults with workshops, seminars, discussion groups, and pairing the youth with positive mentors that will enable the students to become future leaders;
My Vision
Youth learn to compete in a national, continental and global market, become global citizens and owners/producers of their own business;
Traveling; I like travel for a purpose of knowing unique culture, introduce with people, and providing the empowerment advice that I got through learning, reading, media and others.
Click Here to Read My Book Assessments
Books Completed:
As A Man Thinketh
Jonathan Livingston Seagull