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.
Asset management, long-term planning and support to water service providers are important elements of service-delivery models. Read more...
Long-term strategic planning at the district level helps to identify improved service delivery models, system strengthening activities, financing... Read more...
Addressing inequalities by improving access to WASH services for vulnerable groups; introducing social water tariffs for the vulnerable; involving... Read more...
Key insights and calls to action on WASH and health from the All Systems Connect International Symposium 2023. Read more...
This learning note summarises the findings of USAID Transform WASH's activities in Ethiopia to explore progress towards universal sanitation coverage... Read more...
This USAID Transform WASH learning note captures learnings on the existing approaches to support local sanitation businesses at the district level in... Read more...
IRC Ethiopia's vision and strategy, and the organisational changes and business development measures required to implement the strategic plan. Read more...
This learning note summarises the findings of USAID Transform WASH's activities to pilot smart and targeted sanitation subsidies in line with... Read more...
This learning note describes and analyses the four business models elaborated by USAID Transform WASH, which have been applied over the last six... Read more...
Which primary entry points can the WASH sector leverage to work in closer partnership with the global health sector? Read more...
Recommendations on coordination of initiatives and professionalisation of rural water supply maintenance. Read more...
This paper details the steps taken in Ethiopia, by the Millennium Water Alliance (MWA) and member partners, to support three district (woreda)... Read more...
Developing trust and partnership among NGOs, engaging in collective impact and lessons learned about partnership development in an alliance. Read more...
A summary of a study undertaken of the financing approaches used under the USAID Transform WASH programme in Ethiopia, which was conducted to better... Read more...
Take a systems approach to capacity building involving government, communities, the private sector, CSOs, educational institutes and women. Read more...