2003 – Present Director of Programs, TechLab, FHI 360, Boston, MA

Conduct on-site assessments (scoping studies) to understand existing technology infrastructure, information flow, data collection processes, and information access needs to inform the design, development, and deployment of digital solutions. Design, deploy and manage digital solutions for improving the collection, management and use of data (data systems), improving digital information dissemination, facilitating access to digital and data technologies (digital inclusion), mobile health (mHealth), and develop curricula and user documentation and the delivery of technical and end user training (digital literacy). Design mobile-based Social Network Analysis (SNA) data collection tools and analyze network data to understand the complex relationships between different players and their centrality in a system. Manage ICT-based health, agriculture, and climate change adaptation information dissemination initiatives in Africa. Manage relationships with donors, government bodies, and partners including other NGOs, universities, mobile network operators, and community-based organizations.

2014 – Present Negotiator, UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP)

Mr. Gebru has been heavily involved in the negotiation process under the UNFCCC and its Kyoto protocol since 2014. He participated as a negotiator/Party during COP-20, COP-21 and COP-22 on issues related to adaptation and loss and damage.

1999 – 2001 Deputy Director, Relief Society of Tigray (REST), Ethiopia

Managed organizational resources including 650 staff and led dozens of bilaterally and multi-laterally funded development projects and directed the development of strategic and annual plans involving donors, government, and community organizations. Conceptualized, developed, and coordinated implementation of projects related to water supply and sanitation, primary health care, environmental rehabilitation and agricultural development, rehabilitation of internally displaced people, and micro-finance initiatives.

1992 – 1999 Rural Water Supply Development Director, Relief Society of Tigray (REST), Ethiopia

Conceptualized, developed, and implemented numerous water supply and sanitation projects in Northern Ethiopia that helped increase coverage of safe and adequate water supply for the rural population from 2% in 1992 to 21% in 1999; established GIS lab for aiding the planning process of development activities; participated in the preparation of regional and national water supply and sanitation policy and sector strategy; developed technical specifications and tender documents for international bids for the purchase of drilling machines and various types of water extraction equipment including conducting pre-delivery inspection and functional test of equipment in numerous establishments located in North America, Europe and Asia.

1991 – 1992 Geophysicist, Ethiopian Institute of Geological Surveys, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Planned field data collection and conducted interpretation of induced polarization, resistivity, seismic refraction and magnetic data for assessing water and mineral resources.

Projects Managed

2014 – Present Project Director, Wireless Solutions for Fisheries in Senegal, FHI 360, Qualcomm

Led the design and implementation of a system that uses mobile technologies for improving the livelihood of artisanal fishermen and fish processors in Senegal. The project developed an end-to-end application which provides fishers and processors access to up-to-date market information enabling them to negotiate the best price for their catch or processed fish; provides daily weather information and navigational resources such as Global Positioning System (GPS) for charting a course to fishing zones and back to landing sites; fish processing best practices and offshore safety tips in video formats optimized for use on mobile devices; facilitates access to affordable loans through local micro-lending institutions, enabling fish processors and fishers to expand their businesses; and allows fishers to use the GPS feature of the mobile application to communicate their location to family members and rescue teams in emergencies.

2009 – Present Project Director, Mobile Health Information System, South Africa, FHI 360, Qualcomm

Led the design and implementation of a project designed to build the capacity of clinical nurses and doctors in urban and rural settings to better care for patients through access to relevant and reliable health information at the point of care. The project is implemented in the Eastern Cape province, and participating nurses and 80% of doctors reported improvements in making accurate diagnosis; all nurses and 92% of doctors reported improvements in prescribing correct medications; 96% of nurses and 80% of doctors reported improvements in prescribing correct medication dosage as a result of accessing clinical information at the point of care using the system built by the project. The project was awarded the prestigious World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prize at a ceremony in May 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Mr. Gebru led the design of digital solutions for several FHI 360 projects. Illustrative examples include the following.

2017 – Present Digital solution development lead, USAID Zambia Defense Forces Prevention, Care and Treatment and the Zambia Defense Forces HIV Prevention Cross-Cutting projects

Conducted a scoping study and architected a digital solution that included both a mobile-based referral application that links community-based healthcare providers with health facilities and a client tracking application to support the community-based care of patients with HIV and their family members.

2014 – 2017 Digital solution development lead, USAID PMTCT Acceleration, Burundi

Conducted on-site scoping study and architected a mobile device-based solution to support the collection of data on site at health facilities and in households by community-based health workers, and the reporting of data to a central project server using the wireless communications network.

2014 – 2017 Digital solution development lead, USAID Integrated Health Project, Burundi

Developed the requirements specifications and led the development and deployment of a mobile-based solution that facilitates quarterly and annual surveys of household and service availability and readiness assessments at health facilities including the collection of GPS coordinates for data visualization.

2017 – Present Digital solution development lead, USAID Comprehensive Health Services Delivery (Boresha Afya) project, Tanzania

Conducted scoping study and architected a digital health solution targeting community-based health workers for enhancing health service delivery efficiency; improving data collection accuracy, reliability, and speed; disseminating and/or exchanging information on demand; and facilitating communications across different levels of the health system and with clients.

2015 – 2017 Digital solution development lead, Community-based Hypertension Improvement, Ghana, FHI 360, Novartis

Designed a solution that facilitates the exchange of data and information among the several hypertension monitoring and treatment nodes in the health care system including community-based health officers, cardiovascular disease nurses, and physicians, the district health authority, and private sector actors such as licensed drug chemical sellers.

2013 – 2015 Digital solution development lead, USAID Sustainable Comprehensive Responses for Vulnerable Children and their Families (SCORE), Uganda

Led the development a mobile-based data collection and management system to support a 20,000-household nutrition vulnerability assessment.

2014 – 2017 Social Network Analyst, USAID Uganda Education and Research to Improve Climate Change Adaptation

Developed Social Network Analysis data collection tool and analyzed network data involving 168 institutions.

2003 – 2010 Co-Principal Investigator and Project Director, Uganda Health Information Network. AED, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

2007 – 2010 Co-Principal Investigator and Project Director, Mozambique Health Information Network. AED, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

2003 – 2005 Project Director, Nepal health monitoring pilot project. AED, USAID