Since its declaration of independence from Somalia in 1991, Somaliland has carved out its own destiny as an autonomous region in East Africa. While no country recognizes Somaliland as a sovereign state, Somaliland has an independent government overseeing more than 3.5 million people living in the northwest of Somalia. East Africa is facing one of the worst droughts on record with crop failure and famine threatening a full-blown humanitarian crisis. The crisis most harshly affects Somali children who endure malnourishment, displacement and lack of access to education. Through funding for education in Somaliland, education access can increase.

Education in Somalia

USAID reports that Somalia has the largest out-of-school population globally — about 3 million out of 5 million school-age children are not attending school, owing in large part to the displacement that the ongoing civil war caused. This educational crisis reached a head between November 2016 to August 2017 when mass displacement prevented up to 50,000 children from attending school.

Somaliland has a disproportionately low attendance rate compared with other regions, such as neighboring Puntland. A staggering 44% of girls and 31% of boys have never attended school in Somaliland compared with 36% and 26% respectively in Puntland, a 2012 article by Peter Moyi highlights.

In recent years, the aid response from the international community has been lackluster. Funding for education in Somaliland was largely reserved for individual benefactors, such as former U.S. hedge-fund manager, Jonathan Starr, who built his own boarding school in Somaliland.

Inevitably, however, institutions like Starr’s Abaarso School of Science and Technology can accept only a select few of the nation’s brightest and offer scholarships to colleges abroad rather than those in East Africa. To increase student enrolment across the board, organizational funding is necessary to build new schools and train and employ staff.

An October 2022 article by the Somali Dispatch says, due to a lack of educational facilities, 400 students in the Saraar region were studying in the city’s market, working with impractical spaces donated by the city’s traders. Evidently, there is a keen awareness of the importance of education in much of Somaliland but a dire lack of facilities.

The Good News

Funding for education in Somaliland from larger organizations provides hope to students. A recent partnership between Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and UNICEF led to the launch of a multi-year program in July 2019 with the aim of increasing quality educational opportunities for young people in Somaliland who face crises like famine and drought. ECW allocated an initial grant of $6.7 million toward a target of $64 million for a three-year education program to provide a comprehensive, forward-thinking response.

The ECW’s overall investments in Somalia have led to the construction or renovation of 7,874 classrooms. Furthermore, 1,306 classrooms have received learning supplies to foster an environment conducive to learning. On top of this, more than 1,900 educators and administrators have received training from ECW. Of almost a quarter of a million children targeted by the scheme, the EWC has reached more than 170,000 as of June 2022.

Student enrollment has increased, not only because of the new infrastructure that ECW’s considerable funding for education in Somaliland introduced but also due to a gradual shift in local attitudes that new educators encouraged. The chairman of the Somaliland school Community Education Committee (ECE), Saeed Hassan, praised the partnership for educating local leaders on the importance of “mobilizing [parents] to enroll their children who missed school” owing to displacement.

Ultimately, the need to garner funding for education in Somaliland is as relevant now as ever. The work that the ECW and UNICEF partnership carried out is only possible with continued financial support. In November 2022, the ECW announced a $5 million First Emergency Response grant to prevent as many as 900,000 students from dropping out due to the impacts of the extreme climatic events in the region.

To ensure the brightest possible future for vulnerable youth in the region, funding for education in Somaliland must continue to grow. 

– Max Edmund
Photo: Flickr