Country Director | IRC Ethiopia
Lemessa Mekonta is the Country Director for IRC WASH Ethiopia based in Addis Ababa.
He has diversified and hands on experiences in different aspects of water resources, water supplies, and sanitation working for government, private businesses and NGOs in various capacities ranging from expert to managerial level. Key areas of his experiences include program strategy development, partnership facilitation and coordination with different actors, project management, provision of trainings on water supplies, study and design for rural and urban water supplies, urban water utility management, water quality monitoring, leading action research including rural water supply operation and maintenance with appropriate technology identification and use, and private service providers engagement.
Lemessa is a hydrogeologist by background with over 23 years' experience in water and sanitation sector.
A contextual assessment of GESI in the WASH sector based on a review of national policies, strategies, and implementation practices in Ethiopia. Read more...
What is currently working well and what needs to be urgently addressed for meaningful reporting on implementation and progress towards SDG 6 targets. Read more...
Lessons learned and relevance for global and regional civil society organisation (CSO) networks active in the WASH sector. Read more...
Long-term strategic planning at the district level helps to identify improved service delivery models, system strengthening activities, financing... Read more...
Bringing people together in a joint regional forum in Amhara, Ethiopia Read more...
Presentations from the CONNECT Health thematic track of the All Systems Connect International Symposium 2023. Read more...
The Transform WASH Activity in Ethiopia has significantly contributed to advancing market-based sanitation approaches and promoting gender equality... Read more...
Annual report presenting the work of IRC in Mali Read more...
Three factors – legitimacy of the collaborative, aligning activities within clear mandates, and demonstrating value – all work together to secure... Read more...
Testing approaches to strengthen the sustainability and performance of WASH service delivery systems. Read more...
Take a systems approach to capacity building involving government, communities, the private sector, CSOs, educational institutes and women. Read more...
An approach is developed to assess WASH risks in marginal populations that are poorly understood and served through conventional approaches. Read more...
Early successes point towards the effectiveness of linking collaborative, flexible and adaptive capacity building with performance-based funding in... Read more...
The paper sets out the processes followed to establish WASH Learning Alliances in Ethiopia, examines some of the associated risks and constraints,... Read more...
An in-depth inclusive analysis on country-level accountability mechanisms towards Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) on clean water and... Read more...
This study provides new evidence that WASH access and practices are associated with self-reported reproductive tract infection symptoms in rural... Read more...