S.A.F.E. Inundated with Requests for School Improvement in Somalia

NEW YORK - June 10, 2013 - PRLog -- Somali and American Fund for Education (S.A.F.E.), received a record 141 applications for school improvement projects in 2013, nearly double of what they received last year, the organization announced Monday morning.

Although S.A.F.E. Founder, Hodan Guled, credits part of the increase in applications to S.A.F.E.’s track record of successful school construction projects and increased brand awareness, she asserts that the primary reason for the increase is due to the “rebuilding of Somalia as a nation.”

“This is Somalia's time,” said Guled. “Somalia finally has a legitimate government, life is finally coming back to Somalia, and the people of Somalia need education now more than ever to rebuild their country.”

Somalia has made “incredible progress” over the last year and has reached a level of peace that it hasn’t seen in two decades. Guled said, “the Somali people are looking ahead and education is an essential part to a bright future.”

As part of the selection process, S.A.F.E. uses a rigorous set of criteria including community vetting and interviews to identify schools that can greatly benefit from its construction improvement support. Once a school is selected for support, the local community is responsible to fundraise one third of the construction cost from their local and Somali Diaspora communities. This ensures that each community, as a whole, is supportive of the project.

In 2012 alone the work S.A.F.E. did allowed nearly 250 children, 100 of them girls, to attend school. Hodan was inspired and humbled by a recent visit to the newly constructed schools, stating “the work in these communities was incredible. Each and every parent, teacher and administrator played a huge part in building and improving these schools.”  S.A.F.E. is currently working on its 8th school construction project and has thus far provided access to quality education for more than 2000 children in Somalia. Despite S.A.F.E.’s success so far, there are still many children in Somalia who are desperately in need of education.

“Only one out of five primary school aged children in Somalia attends school, and for female enrollment, the number is far less,” said Dr. Namisi Chilungu, A Georgia State University Professor and S.A.F.E. Board Member. Education, especially education for girls, is absolutely a key to rebuilding Somalia,” said Dr. Chilungu.  Dr. Chilungu’s findings corroborate the message from communities throughout Somalia that education is a priority for them and their children.


About Somali and American Fund for Education

Somali and American Fund for Education (S.A.F.E.) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization working to increase access to K-12 education in Somalia. S.A.F.E. establishes partnerships with local communities to build and improve schools. S.A.F.E. uses rigorous selection criteria including a community-vetting process to select schools to support. S.A.F.E. ensures communities are vested in school sustainability by analyzing the level of community support and by requiring each school to fundraise one-third of the construction cost from their local and Somali Diaspora communities. S.A.F.E. also partners with local universities in order to implement the S.A.F.E. Certification Program, which certifies selected schools for accountability and helps build their capacity to effectively implement construction projects. S.A.F.E.’s partners also conduct frequent site visits to schools and submit progress reports to closely monitor its projects. S.A.F.E. believes that access to education for children is the most critical component to combat the challenges facing Somalia today.