Heywot HM Kidane-Mariam serves as Director of CorpsAfrica/Ethiopia. Before this role, she was the technical Deputy Chief of the Party of Livelihoods for Resilience Activity, a flagship program for CARE Ethiopia. In this role, she provided technical support to implementing partners in the four regions of Ethiopia focusing on climate change adaptation, youth empowerment, gender, off-farm income-generating activities, and female youth empowerment. She worked with World Bank Ethiopia as an Environment Specialist and Peace Corps Ethiopia as Associate Peace Corps Director where she conceived, designed, and implemented the first environment program (Conservation and Natural Resource Management). Heywot has a BS degree in Zoology and Biological Aspects of Conservation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is completing her MS in Resource Policy and Environmental Justice from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. She has served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kabayan, Benguet, Philippines. Heywot is passionate about cultivating ownership and agency among African citizens, particularly the youth, on the evolution and emergence of their own country. She resides in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.