Lillian Kidane joined Dalberg in 2018 in Ethiopia with over 20 years of experience in global development. Her diverse expertise spans public health systems, industrialization and trade policy and practice, climate advocacy, and digital transformation across Africa and the Caribbean, working with organizations across the social sector spectrum – governments, private sector, foundations, multilaterals, and NGOs.

Lillian is an entrepreneur at heart, bringing to her work her own experiences with introducing successful local enterprises, including an Africa-based leather fashion brand as well as an e-commerce platform across 15+ countries – all aimed at increasing inter- and intra-Africa trade and job creation. Her passion is to help individuals and communities reach their full potential through educational opportunities and dignified work. Lillian began her professional career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco, providing health training and clinical services to women and children in a small town where she discovered her passion for vocational teaching. She sits on a number of boards globally and locally, including the Labor Mobility Partnerships, a non-profit field-builder developing scalable solutions for workers to access quality jobs across borders and Innova Group, an Ethiopia-based investment group dedicated to uplifting Ethiopia’s healthcare system. Lillian also serves as a Fellow at the SOAS University of London’s Development Leadership Dialogue for Political Economy.

Lillian completed her post-graduate studies in international healthcare management at Yale University’s School of Medicine (USA), holds a master’s in public health in Health Economics and Informatics from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (USA), and has an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame (USA). Lillian is of Eritrean descent and lives between Washington DC and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with her husband and two sons.