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.

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.
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Mission, Vision & Values