Yetnebersh NIGUSSIE MOLLA

Yetneberesh Nigussie Molla is an Ethiopian woman lawyer with a disability having accomplished tremendously in changing the mindset of people towards persons with disabilities. Ms. Yetneberesh has co-founded the Ethiopian center for Disability and Development (ECDD) a prominent local organization advocating for disability inclusion in development in 2005 and served as the executive director till 2015. With a view to broaden her influence beyond her home country, Ethiopia, Ms. Yetneberesh joined Light for the World, an international NGO based in Austria, Vienna (2016-2019) and provided professional and technical support on the human rights of persons with disabilities. In 2019, Ms. Yetneberesh co-founded the Ethiopian Lawyers with Disabilities Association (ELDA) the first professional association of persons with disabilities in the country and served as the first president of the association until March 2023.

Before joining UNICEF ESARO as a program specialist of children with disabilities in May 2021, Yetneberesh was serving as the senior manager of the Global Action on Disability (GLAD) network, a unique platform bringing bilateral/multilateral donors and agencies, foundations and key global coalitions of the disability movement together.

In December 2024 Ms Yetneberesh was appointed to serve as the board co-chair of ADD International - Supporting Global Disability Rights, a UK based non-profit organization specializing in participatory grant making.

Ms. Yetneberesh has also received a number of outstanding awards nationally, regionally and globally in recognition of her magnificent work in the area of disability inclusion. To mention some, Yetneberesh is a joint winner of the Rights Livelihood Award 2017 (interchangeably known as: “alternative Nobel Prize”) and the Spirit of Hellen Keller award 2018. The World Economic Forum recognized Ms. Yetneberesh Nigussie as one of the most influential young Global Leaders in 2020 along with other global figures.

For more info on Ms. Yetneberesh Nigussie Molla, please visit the websites below:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdwzt0uckk4

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mYTJ0gS7Jc

* http://www.tadias.com/12/13/2019/meet-yetnebersh-nigussie-a-blind-ethiopian-lawyer-fighting-for-global-disability-rights/