Negalegne Mequanint Mandefiro

Negalegne is a career diplomat with a decade of experience in diplomacy and communications. For the last four years he has been working at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, DC, mostly in public diplomacy and political affairs. He was head of the public diplomacy section for three years. Negalegne also worked in several departments at Ethiopian’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, including at the office of the Foreign Affairs Minister, the Partnership and Regional Integration Officer at Ethiopia’s Permanent Mission to the African Union, the desk officer for Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and others. Prior to joining the Ethiopian Foreign Service, he worked as a diplomatic and regional affairs journalist for Ethiopian News Agency, covering major events such as the 2015  Intergovernmental Authority on Development-sponsored South Sudan Peace Talks in Addis Ababa and the 2016 popular youth protest in Ethiopia’s Oromia and Amhara regions that forced the previous longtime governing party to relinquish its power.

Negalegne holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from Addis Ababa University and a graduate diploma in diplomacy and international affairs from the Ethiopian Foreign Service Institute. After completing his studies, Negalegne aspires to play a pivotal role in promoting sustainable positive peace in Ethiopia and beyond as well as to advance his career in integrated multilateral diplomacy. Negalegne is the recipient of the Kroc Institute Fellowship.