Berhan Taye

Berhan Taye is a prominent digital rights activist and researcher from Ethiopia.

Education She completed her undergraduate degree from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Following her degree she moved to Sweden to study international relations. She has a master's degree in peace studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA.

Career In 2012, her passion for political transformation and restorative justice made her work as a communication assistant for CEWARN (Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism), a voluntary work to mediate conflicts in East Africa. She became the lead for Access Now’s work on digital rights in Africa as the Africa Policy Manager. She is also a researcher in Center for Intellectual Property and Information Technology (CIPIT) at Strathmore University in Nairobi, Kenya.

Activism Her path towards social justice began early at age sixteen, when she was harassed sexually by a stranger on her way back from school. She escaped from him and then began a volunteering work at the local women affairs office where survivor of domestic abuse come to make their complaints. She made a research on technology for social justice which help activist like herself fight for access to information and freedom of expression.