30 Years in Review

Over these three decades, Adeso has been helping empower and equipped individuals and communities in Africa with skills they need to live productive and self-sufficient lives.

Adeso’s 30 Years in Review: A Timeline

Fatima Jibrell founds the Horn of Africa Relief and Development Organization in Connecticut, USA.
Fatima starts advocacy to end CHARCOAL TRADE in Northeast Somalia.
Now simply known as Horn Relief, we begin our flagship Pastoral Youth Leadership Program in Sanaag Region, Somalia.
We hold our first Camel Caravan in Somalia. Twenty young people walk for three weeks with nomadic pastoralists to learn about the environment, animal and human health, and peacemaking.
Fatima Jibrell wins the Goldman Environmental Prize in recognition of her leadership in creating a social and environmental movement in Somalia, including her role in banning the charcoal trade in 2000.
Degan Ali joins the Organization. We pioneer the first large-scale cash transfer program in Somalia.
Fatma Jibrell retires and Degan Ali takes over as Executive Director. Adeso expands work into Lower Juba, South Somalia.
We publish a cash transfer implementation manual. We begin offering cash transfer trainings to the greater humanitarian aid community.
Fatma Jibrell receives international acclaim by winning the National Geographic/Bufet Award for Leadership in African Conversation
We begin our first program in Garissa, Kenya - the Emergency Livelihoods Recovery Intervention, a 12-month initiative funded by USAID
We celebrate 20 years of direct programming and begin our first program outside the Horn of Africa, in South Sudan.
We rebrand from Horn Relief to Adeso - African Development Solutions.
Our Founder, Fatima Jibrell, is awarded the 2014 Champions of the Earth award for her tireless effort to protect Somalia’s fragile pastoral environment.
Adeso’s advocacy for localization in the lead up to the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) led to the established goal of directing 25% of all direct humanitarian resourcing to local actors by 2020. At the WHS, Adeso also co-founded and launched the Network for Empowered Aid Response (NEAR).
We completed two successful Rural Innovation Lab programs in Garissa and Marsabit Counties in Kenya. Globally, the NEAR network reaches 227 members bringing it to the next level in shifting power and resources to Global South civil society.
Together with 8 Somali organizations, we co-found Nexus, a platform for locally led change by building partnerships between communities, civil society and the public and private sectors.
Pledge for Change: Coalition of a dozen International Non-Governmental Organizations form to work towards decolonizing their organizations, signing on to a series of pledges to be published in 2022.
Adeso turns 30 years old, and launches the piloting of EquityConnect online platform.
1991
1996
1998
2001
2002
2003
2006
2007
2008
2010
2011
2012
2014
2016
2018
2019
2020
2021

Our Impact:

Over the last 30 years, Adeso’s humanitarian and development efforts have reached nearly 8.7 MILLION people in Somalia, Kenya and South Sudan.

0
million people
received unconditional cash transfers, with another
0
people
receiving other emergency response services.
0
people
had improved access to education, many of whom benefited from a flexible curriculum that suits the pastoralist lifestyle.
0
million people
mobilized to rehabilitate their environment.
0
million people
gained access to clean drinking water, hygiene and sanitation through trainings and building of new facilities.
0
million people
benefitted from livelihood projects, from acquiring skills for life to access to trainings, seeds, tools and more for increasing agricultural yield.

Our Footprint

Where we have worked
from 1991 until 2021:

Sool
Sanaag
Bari
Nugaal
Mudug
Galguduud
Bakool
Bay
Gedo
Lower Juba
Fafi District
Marsabit County
Garissa
Wajir
Isiolo
Turkana
Northern Bahr el Ghazal

Our Impact in Somalia

For 30 years, Adeso’s work in Somalia has reached more than six million people throughout the country. Adeso is currently working in Sanaag and Puntland Regions, partnering with local communities on projects ranging from environmental protection and rehabilitation, economic sustainability, and water, sanitation and hygiene projects.
0
people
through water sanitation and hygiene projects
0
people
people through education projects
0
people
through environmental protection projects
0
people
through livelihoods projects
0
people
through emergency projects

Our Impact in Kenya

From 2010 to 2020, Adeso worked with communities in six districts in Kenya: Fafi, Garissa, Isiolo, Marsabit, Turkana and Wajir, reaching two million people over a decade.
0
people
through education projects
0
people
through livelihoods projects
0
people
through water, sanitation and hygiene activities
0
people
through unconditional cash transfers
0
people
through Environmental Resiliency Programs

Mission, Vision & Values