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Stories of change

A growing generation: young farmers in Awdal

In the fertile agricultural areas of Awdal region, in Heego and Bedenbed villages, many young men have been forced to try their luck seeking out paid work in nearby towns. Widespread youth migration has left these formerly vibrant communities bereft of their most productive members, undermining local economic activity and social interaction. Yasin Musa, a 35-year-old resident of Heego, reflects on his own experience. “For the past five years, I been considering a move to Borama town, far from here, to seek employment,” he says, embodying the thoughts of many young people in his v...

Water for Boroma's homes and businesses

Borama, one of the fastest-growing cities in Somaliland, faced a significant challenge: providing sufficient clean water for its ever-increasing population. As the city expanded, so did demand. According to the regional coordinator of the Ministry of Water, even back in 2014, when Borama was smaller, the city struggled with water shortages. The gap between demand and supply led to frequent wate...

Micro-irrigation schemes: Youth with a future

In the rural villages of Bedenbed and Heego, youth were facing a bleak future, with few opportunities to earn a living many found themselves unemployed and contemplated migration to the cities, morale was low. Even those who attempted farming were discouraged by the high cost of fuel for boreholes, which made irrigation unaffordable. It seemed like the youth of these villages were on the brink ...

Boroma's water flows to more homes and businesses

For much of 2023, Borama, a city pulsating with growth due to its educational allure, summer retreats and urbanisation, found itself grappling with a water crisis that threatened the very fabric of its existence. With a surge in population growth, the demand for water had soared to unprecedented levels, leaving the local water utility, SHABA, teetering on the brink of collapse. The situa...

Seeds of change: Zainab builds her business

In recent years in the arid lands of Dur Dur Ad Catchment, the harsh effects of climate change have taken a toll on local businesses. Zainab Harbi, recalls the struggles caused by erratic rainfall patterns. "I used to sell local farm produce for years, but climate-related issues forced us to source goods from neighbouring Ethiopia," she laments. Zainab, who is a dedicated ent...

Maydh Jetty impact: Stimulating Sanag's economy

Like many small coastal communities in Somaliland, Maydh has experienced both prosperity and decline. In the past, it had a wooden jetty which was vital for the local fishery industry and for the export of livestock, fish, and local products to neighbouring countries such as Yemen. However, two decades ago, the jetty fell into disrepair, leading to economic hardships for fishermen and residents...

Skills for Projects: Huda's Internship at HWA

Huda Ise, is a 2023 Business Management graduate from Hargeisa University. She was hired to support the Project Administrator of the SDF-funded Hargeisa Water Expansion Project as an intern at the Hargeisa Water Agency (HWA). Huda heard about the internship from Hargeisa University's Ignite Center, where graduating students learn how to find jobs. After winning the internship, Huda was ...

Artisanal Fisheries: Getting Zainab back in business

Zainab Ahmed Shire is a 42-year-old mother who lives in the village of Maydh with her 12 children. Zainab catches fish using a small boat to support her family's livelihood. Zainab explained that she started fishing 13 months ago when she bought a small boat for $3,000 and hired a skilled fisherman with experience to help her. However, after 8 months, the boat's motor broke down and stopped wo...

Sanag Health Project: Khadra’s experience

Khadra Ismail Abdi is a 32-year-old midwife and mother who lives in Erigavo. She has been serving as a midwife at the Erigavo General Hospital for the past couple of years. Khadra studied midwifery at Sanaag University in Erigavo and completed her first midwifery diploma from Adna Hospital University in 2012. In an interview about her educational background, Khadra said, "It was my dream to bec...

The skilled technicians bringing water to Hargeisa

In the first phase of the Somaliland Development Fund (SDF), two of HWA’s employees had the opportunity to trained in how to install large plastic pipes. Mowlid Abdilahi Ahmed and Khadar Mohamed Yusuf learnt new skills that were to prove of long-term relevance for Hargeisa Water Agency, the organisation responsible for the water supply to Somaliland’s capital. Right from the start, this wa...

Borama Water Project: Community collaboration

Borama City, in the west of Somaliland, is just one of Somaliland’s cities where the water supply is straining to meet demand. By 2016, rapid population growth and urbanisation in Boroma meant that the existing water supply system was clearly already unable to keep up, and there was no obvious solution in sight. However, a ray of hope shone upon the city when Afraaga village, just 19km west of ...

Abdiwahid's farm protected from river erosion

Steep green hills, the streams that run through them, verdant farms, and wells with water are what strikes you when first approaching Heego during the rainy season. But all is not as good it seems, for although Heego is only 25 kilometres from Borama in Awdal Region, the road is bumpy and rugged and land degradation is rampant. Over time, the land around the village has been deteriorating due ...

Restoring farmers' hope through soil conservation

Somaliland has 10 agro-ecological zones, and most of them are arid or desert with limited potential for agricultural production. Nonetheless an estimated 350,000 hectares of land is still considered to be suitable for cropping. This land is mostly located in the northwestern plateau areas of Awdal, Gabiley, and Maroodijeh. Jaarahorato village in the northern Awdal region, is in area suitable fo...

Nimco keeps her livestock well-fed

Nimco Abdilahi, 38, who has lived in Xaaxi since birth, recalls that as long she can remember, pastoralists in Togdheer rarely stored fodder to feed their livestock during times of drought. "Even those who stored it, kept it dry, which meant it had fewer nutrients and barely fed the livestock," says Nimco, referring to the few who did try to keep fodder back for the dry season. But now with th...

Community-led road safety on the Burao-Berbera Road

When new roads are built or existing roads upgraded, sometimes the communities affected by the fast new highways that pass through their villages can be overlooked. That’s why the SDF-supported Burao-Berbera Road Rehabilitation Project has a strong community participation component to engage the communities in the districts the road runs through. The Burao-Berbera Road is nationally import...

Water brings new opportunities for Fatima

Before 2017, the nearest water point for the residents of Gargoorey was Xaliimaale, which was an arduous journey of eight hours to and from. Named after the Gargoorka, a whitish grass good for livestock, Gargoorey is known for big trees and green hills. It is a predominantly pastoral area, but now has small-scale commercial farms after the introduction of the Gargoorey Water Supply Project impl...

Bilan's engineering career takes off

Bilan Abdirahman, 25, who graduated from Gollis University's Department of Civil Engineering, relocated from Hargeisa to the Togdheer region to work on one of the biggest infrastructure projects in Somaliland to get hands-on experience for her career take-off. "Sometime after I graduated, I was employed by the Roads Development Authority (RDA) and worked on a couple of their projects. Working ...

Water is now on the doorstep for Asha

Asha Abdi Omer, 30, a mother of seven children, has lived in Tuur Anood, Dilla district, since she was born and understands what it is like to live with limited access to water. Her face lights up when she talks about water now. Looking back, the state of water in her village was dire. She and several other families in her community would walk for at least two hour each day to the nearest water...

Hodan supervises community-built soil bunds

Hodan Abdi Jama, 35, is a mother of eight children, who she is raising on her own after her husband began ailing two years ago. They lived happily for many years with her working as a housewife and her husband working as a casual worker and loader for development organizations in Jaarahorato, Dilla district. "When my husband’s health deteriorated and we had no one else to help us, I stepped ou...

Mohamed draws his water from sub-surface dams

When you enter Cusbaale, a hamlet settlement under Dhaboolaq in Maroodijeeh, you notice wells having water, water trucking and a few beautiful farms, even in the current drought. Cusbaale lies not far from the banks of the little seasonal stream that runs through Dhaboolaq village to the West and is home to a small inter-related agricultural community. Mohamed Muhumed, 60, and his extended fam...

Cash-for-work helps get Ibrahim through drought

The Durdur Ad Catchment located in Awdal region is among the most suitable areas for agriculture in Somaliland. Unfortunately, the area has been facing land degradation challenges, particularly extensive soil erosion resulting in deep gullies formation. This decline in natural agricultural resources has a direct impact on the communities who have settled in the area permanently and who depend a...

Abokor learns how to install water tanks

A big moment in Abokor Mohamed's career came last year when he and six members of SHABA’s technical team participated in an on-the-job training on steel tank installation by Rhino International. SHABA, a private operator, has been managing the Borama water supply services since 2003 as a PPP with the Ministry of Water Resource Development (MoWRD). Under the SDF2-funded Borama water project...

With water and grass, drought is mitigated for Mohamed

In Togdheer, the majority of a pastoralist’s life depends on livestock rearing and rainfall for livestock pasture. However, recurrent seasons of low rainfall have resulted in prolonged drought, the depletion of grazing land and animal deaths. That's why Aroori Livestock Holding Ground (LHG) was rehabilitated under the first phase of the Somaliland Development Fund (SDF) to enhance livestock exp...

Improving communal water infrastructure in Qool Caday

Access to safe drinking water for both human and animal population is fundamental for good quality of life. Pastoralist communities in the Qool Caday grazing plain of Somaliland, have long suffered the lack of a centralized communal water system for human and animal consumption, despite the fact that the topography of the area offers suitable conditions for sustainable water harvesting. To add...

Hope of water for Aroori pastoralists restored

The livelihoods of the pastoralists in the Aroori grazing area near Burao mainly depend on herding livestock, good rains and pasture. Recently, their way of life has come under threat due to the recurring droughts, environmental degradation, livestock depletion and drinking water shortages that are experienced in the area during the dry season. "We are all very excited about the project. This ...

Water is such a blessing for Malayko

Somaliland is a water-scarce country and access to a safe and permanent water supply is a major problem. Against this background, the Somaliland Development Fund, through the Ministry of Water Resources, has funded the Water Resources Development Project. The project aims to improve the availability and access of water in Somaliland in a sustainable, equitable and environmentally safe way for a...

Amina: I never thought I'd be a student at Dayaha Boarding School

Sool and Sanaag regions have the worst access to education indicators in Somaliland. The two regions are located in the East of Somaliland, which is remote and difficult to access. In education, the main challenges stem from long-term inadequate resource allocations for maintenance of educational infrastructure, underpayment and shortage of qualified staff, and grossly insufficient educational ...

From war on nature to saviour, Mustafa conserves forest

The 38-year-old Mustafa from Debis, Sahil region, has been working in the forest almost every day for the last 20 years cutting trees to secure a living for his immediate and extended family. He has been increasingly anxious about the nature of his job. Now, Mustafa is back to the vicinity where he used to conduct his charcoal business, but this time is different: he is participating in the con...

Where women rarely tread, Nima leads the way

Engineering has always been a male-dominated career terrain where very few women dare to tread. For many, it is just one of those careers that hasn’t truly shaken off the ‘male-female’ divide. In Somaliland, however, two young women are pushing that boundary and demystifying the perception that engineering as a career is an exclusive preserve of men. Naima Faisal Mohamud and Nimco Mohamed Ibrah...

Closer access to water empowers communities in Aburin

Abdi Hashi, 53, agro-pastoralist, lives in Laalayska, a village in the Maroodijeh Upper Catchment area, about 24 km west of Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa. His home, a small hut, is located at the bottom of a hill on rough terrain overlooking the dry agricultural land of Mahbuubta area. Lack of water has turned the surrounding trees black and the soil dry. Rain has been sporadic over the recent...