Biography

Hilawi Alemayehu received his B.A. in Psychology from Debre Markos University. He has certifications in Child Abuse, Child Protection, Policy Development, and Program Implementation. Throughout his professional career he has obtained extensive hands-on experience working with marginalized youth and non-governmental organizations. 

Hilawi’s motivation for social work stems from his own youth and the experiences he had dealing with family issues growing up. These had a profound effect on him and motivated him to want to help other children. Previously, Hilawi worked at CIAI and was tasked with rescuing children and young adults from the streets. From there he worked with Kolfe Youth Care and Rehabilitation Centre to reunify street children with their families and provide those unable to cope in mainstream society with rehabilitation services. These experiences led him to help create Studio Samuel and work to address the needs of at-risk girls in Addis Abba.