Mr. Tamrat Kebede (Executive Director of InterAfrica Group-Ethiopia – IAG) received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Ithaca College (Ithaca NY) and earned his MA in Political Economy from Syracuse University (Syracuse NY). He also holds MPA degree in Public Administration from Harvard University JFK School of Government (Cambridge MA). Tamrat has received the Edwards Mason Fellow award from Harvard University in 1990. He has over 30 years of experience in research, management and public administration, with particular expertise in rural development and NGO/CSO programs in Ethiopia. He has led and implemented several projects related to: development, fostering democratic tradition and conflict management in communities living in remote and marginalized areas. Starting in 1969-1989, Tamrat has served in Ethiopia as: Division Head of Land Tenure and Peasant Association (in the then Ministry of Land Reform). He was also member of the Committee that drafted the Land to the Tiller Land Reform Legislation in 1974, that abolished the feudal land tenure in Ethiopia. Tamrat has also served as the General Manager of State Farms Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture. He was Head of Aid Coordination and Resettlement and Resettlement Departments in the then Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) From 1991-2002 he worked at the African Development Bank (ADB) as Senior Cooperation Expert for the bank’s collaborative programs with FAO, IFAD, African Union and UN-ECA.
Tamrat joined IAG in October 2006. Prior to that (2004- Sept. 2006) and is the current Executive Director of the organization., he was the Country Director of African Humanitarian Action (AHA –Ethiopia). From 2008-2016, he had chaired the AHA-Ethiopia Board of Directors. He is presently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Partners for Refugee Services (PRS).