About Us
Background:
Somalia e is a deeply gendered society, where the socio-cultural norms that govern attitudes, behaviours, practices, and expectations results in gender inequality.
Gender equality is a fundamental human right and is essential for advancing development and reducing poverty. Empowered women contribute to the health and productivity of entire families and communities, and the roles they play as caregivers improve prospects for the next generation. Society in Somalia is very patriarchal and has strict construed gender roles that do not favour women. This has a lot of implications on the woman’s life and put women in the disadvantage position compared to men. Literacy rates are also lower for the female population across all types of residences.
Founded in February 2020. Ayaan initiative is Somalia based non-governmental organization founded by activist’s girls.
Stay In Touch
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+252907724878
+252907790761 -
aniso@ayaaninitiative.org
najma@ayaaninitiative.org -
Muqdisho- Km4
Garowe-Halgan,Street 6
Our Moto
To advocate rights & choices of girls and women including feminist and transgender.
Who We Are
Ayaan initiative is a Somalia-rooted hub for girls’ voices and activism. We ensure that the voices of Somali girls are amplified, and that our needs and aspirations are prioritized in key policy dialogues and outcomes.
How we work
We are committed to making a lasting impact on the lives of the most vulnerable and excluded girls while supporting girls’ rights and gender equality.
Our purpose
We strive for a just world that advances girls rights and equality for women. We engage people and partners to:
- Empower children, young people and communities to make vital changes that tackle the root causes of discrimination against girls, exclusion and vulnerability.
- Drive change in practice and policy at local, national and global levels through our reach, experience and knowledge of the realities children face.
- Work with children and communities to prepare for and respond to crises and to overcome adversity.
- Support the safe and successful progression of children from birth to adulthood
Core values
Ayaan initiative believes in the following core principles:
- Voluntarism
- Activism
- Accountability
- Transparency
- Impartiality
- Nonpartisan and non-political participation
AREAS OF FOCUS
- Quality education, we promote free, equal access to quality education for all girls- from early learning to secondary education.
- Human rights [Mitigating FGM/SGBV and promoting women’s rights plus child
- Protection].
- Skills & work, we increase women access to financial services, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and employment skills training.
- Democracy and Peace building
- Emergencies, we build communities’ resilience and support children’s right to dignity and protection before, during and after disasters and conflicts.
Our Programmes:
- Change Agent Programme: Supporting girls to have influence in their communities is critical to their empowerment and promoting gender equality. We provide advanced training in leadership and advocacy for select graduates of our year-long programme so that they can push for changes that they want to see.
- -Men’s engagement programme: In order to help girls to break through the stereotypes that limit their opportunities, we work with men to challenge discrimination and help them become allies in the fight for gender equality. Since 2021, we have worked with nearly 260 men through our Men’s Engagement Programme.
- – Transforming Power Structures: We work in deep partnership with girls and their allies to hold power-keepers to account. We accompany girls as they work to transform imperialist and patriarchal systems of oppression, showing up and holding space as adult allies in the service of girls’ own goals and strategies.
Our Theory of Change:
Our Theory of Change captures our understanding of change and how we seek to spark, catalyse, contribute to and sustain change. It is based on the understanding that change is not linear and instead complex, that it cannot always be neatly categorised into separate boxes but that it is very often layered and interconnected.
It draws on movement building theory which centres collective action as the most critical avenue to initiate change. It is rooted in the understanding that power is at the heart of the injustices, inequalities, discrimination, exclusion and violence which we seek to eliminate in order for girls to live in safety, dignity and freedom. The change we seek, is therefore to change existing power dynamics in order to transform the world with and for girls.
Geographical coverage:
Ayaan Initiative programs cover all regions of Somalia. The coverage according to the
number of women and girl’s population would be 7 million, who are direct or indirect beneficiaries of our various programs.
Stay In Touch
Our team is here to provide you with more information and answer any queries you might have. Our normal working hours are 9:30am-5:30pm, Sunday to Thursday. we aim to reply to all messages within 3-5 working days.