Getachew Engida

Mr Engida has spent the last 20 years leading and managing international organisations advancing the cause of poverty eradication, peace building and, sustainable development. He has extensively worked on rural and agricultural developments, water and climate challenges, education, sciences, technology and innovation, intercultural dialogue and cultural diversity, communication and information with emphasis on freedom of expression and the free flow information on and offline as well as good governance. Mr Engida brings to the international public service a broad range of leadership and management skills from his academic background and rich experiences in the private sector. Mr Engida is a specialist in change management, good governance and transformative leadership in diverse international setting. Mr Engida has travelled widely in public speaking and leadership engagements at international conferences on peace and sustainable development issues and conferred with political leaders, policy makers, international, regional and national non-governmental organisations, the private sector academia and civil society.

Mr Engida has served as the World Bank nominee on the Boards of Trustees in a number of international organizations including Africa Rice (as a Chair) , the International Water Management Institute (Audit Committee Chair) . He is currently a member of CoRA – Conseil d’orientation de I’Agence franc;aise inter-etablissements de recherche pour le developpement, the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council and the McKinsey Executive Panel.
Born in July 1956 in Addis Ababa, Mr. Engida holds a B.A. (Honours) degree in Economics from the University of Manchester (UK) and an MBA with Commendations in Strategic Management from City University Business School in London (UK).

Mr Engida is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales since 1995 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (UK) . Mr Engida worked in progressively responsible managerial and leadership positions at Ernst & Young, BOC and Thompson-Reuters, the latter for ten years in the UK and Kenya (1986-1995). He was a senior executive at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (Rome), a Director at the International Livestock Research Institute (Nairobi). Mr Engida has also served as a governance and management specialist on External Program and Management Review Panels of three major agricultural research centres supported by the World Bank, FAO, UNEP and UNDP.

Mr Engida is a recipient of Doctor Honoris Causa. He was also awarded the Honorary Professorship from the Mongolian University of Science and Technology.
Mr. Engida joined UNESCO as Deputy Assistant Director-General for Administration and Comptroller in June 2004. He is serving as Deputy Director-General since July 2010, and from January 2014 to February 2016, has taken on the added responsibility of managing the Communication and Information Programme of UNESCO.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Getachew Engida to be a member of the Board of Governors of the United Nations System Staff College beginning January 2016 on the recommendation of the High Level Committee of Management.

Mr Engida is married to Martha Tilahun and they have three grown up children.