Bezaiet Dessalegn

Bezaiet Dessalegn is a social scientist with ICARDA’s Integrated Water and Land Management Research Program. She has over 15 years of experience in development with a focus on food security, agriculture and rural development, and mainstreaming gender in research.

Dessalegn currently manages the USAID-funded Water and Livelihoods Initiative, which operates in seven Middle Eastern countries: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank, Tunisia, and Yemen. She also serves as a gender focal point.

She holds a master’s degree in international development and social change from Clark University in Massachusetts, and a second master’s in international relations from Purdue University in Indiana.