Every Child Deserves a Chance to Learn
Protecting vulnerable children from child labor and supporting access to safe and inclusive education.
Illustrative image – AI generated. Not a photograph of real children or SAJDO beneficiaries.
SAJDO is a Somali-led local NGO working in Benadir and Hirshabelle, standing with minority and marginalized communities on child protection, girls' education, health, and livelihoods.
SAJDO was founded to respond to gaps that larger institutions often miss — the safety of a girl walking to school, the wellbeing of a family displaced by conflict, the future of a community rebuilding after crisis.
We are minority-led and focused on vulnerable and marginalized communities, with particular attention to women and children. Our work spans human rights, child protection, girls' education, prevention of and referral for gender-based violence, health, agriculture, and peacebuilding.
This isn't abstract to us. Our team has supported displaced girls into education, worked directly with parents and communities on the risks of sending girls into domestic labor, and established a small community-based school for girls who would otherwise have no access to one.
Five interconnected areas of work, each shaped by what communities have told us they need most.
Community-based systems to identify, refer, and support children at risk of exploitation and violence.
Getting displaced and vulnerable girls into school, and keeping them there through family and community support.
Awareness, safe referral pathways, and support for survivors of gender-based violence.
Improving access to basic health services for underserved families in Benadir and Hirshabelle.
Supporting food security and household income through practical agricultural programs.
Community resilience and social cohesion work rooted in local trust and relationships.
Protecting Vulnerable Girls from Exploitation and Violence through Education, Family Support and Community-Based Child Protection.
This program brings together everything SAJDO does best: direct relationships with families, trusted standing in the community, and a track record of getting girls into classrooms rather than into harm's way.
SAJDO is seeking strategic partnerships, technical support, capacity building, and appropriate funding opportunities to expand community-based child protection and girls' education programs across Somalia.
From liberation to recovery, and from recovery to resilience.
SAJDO's framing for community-led rebuilding after crisisTwo examples of how SAJDO's programs meet real, immediate needs.
90 households reached
Fasting hits hardest for those already stretched thin. SAJDO reaches households in Banadir's Wadajir district with full staple packages — rice, flour, oil, dates — timed for Ramadan and prioritized for elderly residents, people with disabilities, and women raising families alone.
Nearly all of the households reached are led by women, a reflection of who carries the heaviest load in these communities and who SAJDO's programs are built to reach first.
Communities along the Shabelle River spent over a decade cut off from the outside world. What SAJDO found on the ground: children with no school to walk to, no trained teachers, and girls furthest from the classroom of anyone.
SAJDO is turning that assessment into a case for action — pressing government and international partners to invest in schools, teachers, and equal access for girls before another generation grows up without them.
Beyond the headline areas, here's what each intervention actually looks like on the ground.
Human Rights & Documentation Centers — SAJDO is establishing centers that combine Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services, education, and systematic documentation of rights abuses affecting women, children, and minority communities.
Advocacy — Media engagement and field-based campaigns that travel to affected locations to amplify the voices of victims, bringing international attention and partners to overlooked communities.
Prevention & Response — Awareness and outreach paired with direct support for GBV survivors: medical referral, education, aid, livelihood support, relocation, and shelter.
Peacebuilding & Security — A minority neighborhood watch system, a Youth for Change program, and community conversation forums that bring people together to resolve conflict.
Saba Jazeera Development Organization (SAJDO) is an officially permitted Local Non-Governmental Organization (LNGO) by the Federal Republic of Somalia, Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs & Reconciliation.
SAJDO is urging communities, local authorities, and humanitarian partners to strengthen preparedness for potential flooding tied to developing El Niño conditions ahead of the Deyr (October–December 2026) rainy season.
Riverine and flash flooding is a growing concern along the Jubba and Shabelle corridors — including Hirshabelle, Lower and Middle Shabelle, and Lower and Middle Juba. Flooding here has historically meant displacement, damaged crops and infrastructure, and disrupted health, water, and market access.
Women, children, older people, and persons with disabilities face the greatest protection risks when flooding hits.
SAJDO is calling for early action: agreeing on evacuation routes now, moving valuables and documents to higher ground, protecting food and water sources, and keeping emergency communication — phones, radios, community networks — active and ready.
Local organizations are strengthening early-warning networks, flood-risk mapping, and referral mechanisms in coordination with authorities and humanitarian partners.
SAJDO is led by people who live and work in the communities we serve.
We're seeking staff training, capacity building, and technical partnership — the foundation for long-term, credible programs. We are reaching out to organizations including:
Whether you're exploring a partnership, funding opportunity, or want to learn more about our programs — we'd like to hear from you.