Roman Tesfaye Abneh (; Wolaytta: Aabinee Tasfaayee Ooromaano; born 16 April 1968) is an Ethiopian politician and activist who was the third First Lady of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from September 2012 to February 2018. She is the wife of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Hailemariam Desalegn Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe (; born 19 July 1965) is an Ethiopian politician who served as Prime Minister of Ethiopia, prime minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2018. He also previously served as deputy prime minister and Ministry of Foreign Affair ...

. She holds two

master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in economics and leadership. Prior to her position as First Lady, she served in

Arba Minch University Arba Minch University (Amharic: አርባ ምንጭ ዩኒቨርሲቲ) is a residential national university in Arba Minch, South Ethiopia Regional State, Ethiopia. It is approximately south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Ministry of Education ad ...

South Ethiopia Regional State The South Ethiopia Regional State (Amharic: ደቡብ ኢትዮጵያ ክልላዊ መንግስት) is a region in southern Ethiopia. It was formed from the southern part of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) on 19 A ...

, as a lecturer of Economics, economic advisor to South Region's administration, Federal level as the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, South Ethiopia as the administrator of Regional Bureau of Finance and Economic Development, Regional Secretariat for the National Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Preparation, and the Bureau of Plan and Economic Development. She has also previously held high level roles within the Ministry of Women's Affairs, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, and for two terms she has served as an active member of

Parliament. She focused her attention on building economic opportunities for

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

women, addressing nutrition and education for youth, and promoting the global health initiative, Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon that combats cervical and breast cancer, the leading causes of cancer deaths among women in sub‐Saharan Africa. First Lady Roman is an advocate of women's economic empowerment towards positive social transformation. Since establishing the office of the First Lady; which is the first in the country's history she worked at level intervention targeting skill development, to create an enabling environment as well as networking and facilitating access for women entrepreneurs to local and export markets.

Background

Early life

Roman Tesfaye was born in a small town near

Wolaita Sodo Sodo () or officially Wolaita Sodo (, ) is a city in south Ethiopia. The city is a political and administrative center of the Wolaita Zone and South Ethiopia Regional State. It has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation between above ...

called Gacheno,

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. She is of the Wolayta ethnic group of Ethiopia, the first largest in the

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; ) was a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in southwestern Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of five ''kililoch'', called Regions 7 to 11, following the ...

(SNNPR). Her family belongs to the Apostolic Church of Ethiopia, a

Oneness Pentecostal Oneness Pentecostalism (also known as Apostolic Pentecostalism, Jesus' Name Pentecostalism, or the Oneness movement) is a nontrinitarian branch of Pentecostal Christianity that emphasizes the absolute oneness of God and the full deity of Jesus C ...

denomination that is not part of the mainstream Ethiopian Protestant Christianity ( Pentay), which believes in

Trinitarianism The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

. Married to

, she is also well known to be both a religious and family woman.

Career list

* Lecturer of Economics at

* Economic advisor of South Region's administration *The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs *Regional Secretariat for the National Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Preparation *Chair person of Stop Cervical, Breast and Prostate Cancer in Africa *

First Lady of Ethiopia First Lady of Ethiopia () is a title for the wife of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Prime Minister. Officially the concept of First Lady applied in Ethiopian politics since 1995. Although the first lady's role has never been codified ...

*Chair-person in Hailemariam and Roman Foundation ( HRF)

Awards

Roman won the Scaling Up Nutrition Champion Awards in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

on 8 November 2017 and handover the awards on 31 May 2018 at the Federal Ministry of Health, in the presence of Amir Aman, former

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

, Kebede Worku, State Minister of Health and Chair of the National Nutrition Coordinating Body (NNCB), Ekin Ogutogullari, Country Director of

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

and Chair of the Ethiopian Civil Society Coalition for Scaling-up Nutrition (ECSC-SUN) coalition members and other stakeholders.

School feeding program

Mother of three daughters, Roman, who was the first lady between September 2012 and February 2018, takes an active role in the

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and nutrition of children. Having grown up in the countryside, she believes that education is an effective way to break the

cycle of poverty In economics, a cycle of poverty, poverty trap or generational poverty is when poverty seems to be inherited, preventing subsequent generations from escaping it. It is caused by self-reinforcing mechanisms that cause poverty, once it exists, to ...

. After reading a report of the

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

Education Bureau in 2014 showing that thousands of children were about to drop out of school because of malnutrition, Roman sprang into action immediately. In 2015, together with the

China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) () is a nongovernmental charitable organization in Beijing, China, registered under the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs in 1989 and professionally supervised by the State Council Leading Group Of ...

(CFPA), she initiated a school feeding program called Smiling Children Project covering 42 public primary schools in

. Today, the project has been providing free breakfast and lunch to 22,000 students in the capital. According to studies, the school attendance rate for children taking part in this program rose to almost 99 percent. Their health status has improved, and their school performance is on the rise. Also within the framework of this project, 1,200

mothers A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestat ...

who had no stable source of income were recruited to be in charge of the supply, preparation and distribution of food to students. In this way, the project benefits both women and children. Roman continues to be actively involved in efforts to raise funds so that more children can benefit from the initiative. While she is officially no longer the first lady of Ethiopia, Roman still works in this role.

Foundation

Roman Tesfaye is now the chairperson of the Hailemariam and Roman Foundation. The foundation aims to develop the healthy of children's and mother's, nutrition of communities, promoting

climate resilience Climate resilience is a concept to describe how well people or ecosystems are prepared to bounce back from certain climate hazard events. The formal definition of the term is the "capacity of social, economic and ecosystems to cope with a hazardou ...

and ecotourism and increasing the economic benefits of women and youth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roman, Tesfaye Living people Wolayita 1968 births First ladies of Ethiopia Ethiopian women Ethiopian economists People from Wolayita Zone