The problems caused by 30 years of civil war have been compounded by a series of severe droughts and subsequent famines, leaving Somalia one of the poorest countries in the world.

Since the collapse of the education system, communities have taken different approaches to establishing locally run education services. While any progress is impressive, all these systems face enormous challenges. In many areas across the country, parents are not able to fund their children’s education. In addition to poverty, long distances to school, safety concerns, social norms favoring boys’ education, a lack of trained teachers  and the low availability of sanitation facilities stops parents from enrolling children, particularly girls, in school.

Africa Education Trust (AET), part of Street Child, started working in Somalia in 1996, at a time when many organizations were leaving the country after the aborted UN Peacekeeping mission. By working through local staff and organizations we have been able to continue operating throughout the country despite successive cycles of drought, famine, and conflict.

Street Child programs support government and community efforts to re-establish formal education at both primary and secondary school levels. Our work establishing elementary and high school examination systems is restoring communities’ confidence in the education system. We have also partnered with universities to support the training of teachers and managers to help rebuild the school system.

In all our work, we focus on excluded groups including pastoralists and people in remote rural communities, families displaced by conflict or drought, ethnic minorities, people living with disabilities and girls and women.