Somali Family Services (SFS) recognizes that educating Somalis of all ages, clans and income levels is one of the best strategies to bring peace, security and democracy to Somalia.  Through education, Somalis find their voice and are able to make positive contributions to the development of their nation. By providing educational opportunities and skills trainings to Puntlanders, SFS is supporting not only people’s education and future livelihoods, but also enabling them to be active participants in their communities and their country.

Many of SFS’s programs focus on Puntland’s youth because education and the ensuing job opportunities serve as alternatives to the criminal activities they are targeted for, including piracy and extremism. SFS also strives for gender parity in its educational programs in an effort to empower females and combat the disparity in educational attainment and livelihood opportunities between women and men.

SFS supports educational initiatives in several direct and indirect ways:

• Because conflict has deprived many Somali young people from receiving a formal education, many young adults now lack the basic skills they need to obtain jobs and provide for themselves. To meet this need, SFS has provided skills training for almost 200 of Puntland’s young people. Through these trainings, they have gained accounting, communications, technology and job search skills, to name a few. By the close of the training, SFS had placed half of its participants in paid jobs or internships and had commitments to place another quarter. It continued to actively seek placements for participants and provide support to participants in their own job searches. Showing their own perseverance, several trainees started a group called Hope Seekers to support one another in their job searches.

• SFS established and runs the Puntland Library and Resource Centre, which has become a hub for students, teachers and community members to meet, acquire information and exchange knowledge and ideas. Through its partnership with Books for Africa, SFS has distributed over 2 million books to schools and libraries throughout Somalia.

In its continuous efforts to promote education and empower all Somalis, SFS is developing several educational projects, including one to provide educational opportunities to nomadic children and youth.

Because SFS believes that education is the key to Somalia’s future, it facilitates educational opportunities, provides skills trainings and assists in community development. SFS’s Library and Resource Center has become a hub for students to gather and learn. SFS has also distributed over 2 million books to educational institutions in Somalia.