Helina TIRFIE is an Executive Director and serves as the NGO and Public Sector Coordinator in the Strategic Counseling Department. She has over 10 years of experience in technical assistance to national HIV programs, water and sanitation, urban sustainability advocacy and higher education in Africa.

Prior to joining ACT, Helina worked in the UNAIDS Regional Support Team (RST) where she was responsible for providing technical and programmatic support to the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the UNAIDS-funded technical assistance facility in Burkina.

Previously, Helina worked on the African Virtual University (AVU) project, funded by the World Bank. She was responsible for partnership development and maintenance in higher education in Africa.

Helina also worked at UN-Habitat where she participated in the writing of the publication on “Implementing the Habitat Agenda: In Search of Urban Sustainability”.

Helina worked at the World Bank as a research manager and co-editor of the paper on financing strategies for water and sanitation services.
Helina holds a Masters in Development Studies with a focus on HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa from Wits University and an MBA in International Business Management from the University of Nairobi.

Helina is an Ethiopian national