Amanya Michael Ebye has spent 31 years working in the humanitarian assistance field. His humanitarian career started in 1993 in Uganda where he served as a Field Program Manager for a UNHCR funded program for Rwandese refugees in Western Uganda. From 1994 to 1997 he worked in Rwanda supporting communities that had survived the genocide.
In 1997 he joined ActionAid and served as the Humanitarian and Peace Building Coordinator for Uganda.
In 2001 he was appointed as the IRC Field Coordinator to oversee a multi sectoral program for Burundian and Congolese refugees in Western Tanzania.
From 2003 to 2005 he served as IRC Country Director for Tanzania and from 2005 to 2007 he served as the Director of the IRC’s Darfur multi sectoral programs in Sudan – one of the IRC’s largest and most challenging relief operations at the time– providing multi sectoral assistance to over one million IDPs in Darfur.
From 2007 to 2010, he served as the IRC Regional Director for the Middle East supporting programs in Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the OPT.
From 2012 to 2016 he served as IRC Regional Director for DRC overseeing a program that provided assistance to 2.5 million displaced and vulnerable Congolese through its multi sectoral program.
In March 2017 he joined UNRWA as Deputy Director for Programs in Syria. UNRWA is mandated by the UN General Assembly to provide quasi-state social and relief services for about 450,000 Palestine refugees in Syria. UNRWA employs 4,000 staff in Syria with human development program across the country.
In February 2019, he was appointed as Field Director for the UNRWA Program in Syria.
A native of Uganda, Amanya received his B.A. in Social Work and Social Administration and an M.A. in Social Sector Planning and Management from Makerere University in Uganda.