Telling the ECSA Story

     A smiling Najmo in class.    Najmo Farah Abdi, a 7th-grade student at Haraf School in Somaliland, lives in Haraf Village just outside Hargeisa. She comes from a family of nine children. Her parents, former farmers, lost their income after a prolonged drought, making it difficult to support the family. Najmo walks an hour to school every morning. She usually eats a light breakfast at home—an omelet and tea—but often arrives at school hungry. “Sometimes I feel hungry before school even starts,” she says. Hunger made it hard for her to concentrate in class, and by the time she returned home and went to Quranic madrassa, she was too tired to focus. Her health began to suffer. After collapsing one day, Najmo was taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with malnutrition. “It was heartbreaking. We couldn’t afford better food,” says her mother. Things changed when the Home-Grown School Feeding Program (HGSFP) was introduced a...

  In 2021, the Al Amarz IDP camp was a place of struggle and uncertainty for displaced families, compounded by the absence of educational opportunities for children. Families struggled to survive, and their children wandered about the camp, denied the opportunity for an education. For Headteacher Abdirizak Hassan Abdi, who himself had endured the pain of displacement, the sight of children idling in the camp instead of in classrooms was unbearable. "There was no school. No place for children to learn or even dream for a better future," he narrated.   Headteacher Abdirizak Hassan Abdi-Al-amar Community School Determined to change this reality, Abdirizak joined forces with two like-minded individuals. They pooled their modest resources, borrowed where they could, and in just ten days, constructed two makeshift classrooms. The effort was a labor of love, fueled by the belief in education’s transformative power.   The classrooms were simple—8x5 meter...

CARE supports girls in Somalia to access education and to stay in school. At just 16, Khadija* has achieved something remarkable: she became the top student in Jubaland state, Somalia, in the national Grade 8 exams. Her success is a personal victory and a powerful testament to the transformative impact of the Girls' Education and Empowerment Program (GEEPS) in Somalia. One that may not have been reali z ed due to circumstances beyond her control.     Khadija , born into a big family in Kismayo, knows firsthand the struggles girls face in Somalia. Education is a distant dream for many girls, held back by poverty, droughts, early marriage, the constant threat of conflict, dwindling resources that forced parents to prioritize boys' education, and harmful traditions that kept them from reaching their potential. Khadija 's goal of becoming a teacher seemed almost unattainable , overshadowed by her community's harsh realities of life.     "I used to watch other girls...

In the Mutare rural district, many young people are trapped in a cycle of poverty, hindered by inadequate education and scarce resources. For Lisa , a 17-year-old Chitora Secondary School Zimunya Ward 21 student , this was a common case she knew affected her community. Like many students, Lisa found it difficult to imagine a future beyond secondary school, as the consistently low Ordinary-level exam pass rates cast a shadow over her aspirations. Also, t he lack of resources and support made the journey seem overwhelming and challenging.   Lisa 's family situation further compounded her predicament. Her three older siblings had struggled to navigate the education system, leaving Lisa with little guidance or hope. With her parents struggling to make ends meet, it was Lisa's dream to transform the family’s standard of life for the better and a good education was the gateway to that dream.   "I was facing immense difficulties with my studies," Lisa confessed, her voic...