Kalkidan Lakew Yihun is currently the Programme Coordinator for CARE’s Women Respond initiative in which she focuses on listening and learning from women and girls in Village Savings & Loan Associations (VSLAs) to explore the impact of COVID-19 and other crises, how they are leading, and their priority needs with the aim to advance women’s participation and leadership. Before this role, Kalkidan served in different gender technical advisor roles at CARE, supporting gender equity and diversity in organizational processes and gender integration in food security programming in Ethiopia. Kalkidan is passionate about gender equity and justice and has over 10 years of experience working on programs focusing on gender equality, women's
economic empowerment, youth empowerment, and food security.
Kalkidan has a BA in Sociology and Social Anthropology and MA in Human Rights from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, and a MA in International Development Policy from Duke University, USA.