In 2010, in collaboration with the Hawa Abdi Switzerland Organisation, RAJO built a school with 16 classrooms in the Hawa Abdi district. 849 students from 6 to 12 years old (438 girls and 411 boys) currently go to school there.

The students outside the RAJO school

First day at the RAJO school, Abdi counts the students

First day at the RAJO school, the students are in their uniforms ready to learn

Abdi goes through books with two young students

Classroom at the RAJO school

English lesson at the RAJO school

Students write with charcoal on wood panels at a Koranic school

A professor reads out the Koran to his students at a Koranic school

an emergency aid project

In 2017, Somalia was hit by a major food crisis caused by a severe drought. In this context, RAJO has implemented an emergency aid project. Food was distributed to 2000 families in the Adado district. Each received a total of 12.5 kg of rice, 3 litres of oil and 5 kg of sugar. In addition, 29 tanker trucks were leased to distribute water to 8 different villages.

RAJO leased 29 tanker trucks to deliver water to 8 villages suffering from the drought

Children in front of a tanker truck about to deliver water

Water well in Adado, the trucks draw the water and then deliver it to the villages

A goat that has succumb to the heat and dryness

A tanker truck leaves to deliver water to a village

Preparation for water delivery

Water is put into the local village well

A villager and her baby are happy about the water delivery

Villagers and animals will use this water for 4-5 days (3000 litres per tank)

literacy campaign

One in five Somalis can not read or write. RAJO has set up various literacy campaigns from 2012 to 2016. The aim of the project was to provide a population of mainly nomadic adults from central Somalia with a training program that would enable them to acquire basic reading, writing and numeracy skills. In total 1,400 young adults, 70% of which are women, have benefited from this program. Young Somali people who have attended schools (setup by RAJO's partner Iftiin) have been recruited to run the RAJO Literacy Campaign.

Somalis who have benefited from free tuition at the Iftiin school in Adado teach nomads in the literacy campaign

Adado is in the Galmuduj area and is 3 times the size of Switzerland

Students in the literacy campaign are adults as well as children

Iftiin coordinators, an education representative and a villager

The literacy campaign teachers are graduated Iftiin students. They usually teach for 1-2 days under a tree.

Workbook distribution

Young girls that have graduated from the literacy campaign project

Young boys that have graduated from the literacy campaign project

equipment for a medical dispensary

The health situation in Somalia remains critical. In some areas, women travel several hundred kilometres to give birth. In general, access to care is very limited. In 2012, the "Medicines for All" organisation, based in Dorénaz, Switzerland, offered beds, operating room trolleys, orthopedic canes, sterilisation equipment ... RAJO financed the transport of this equipment.

community hall

In order to reinforce social cohesion in a Somalian society battered by 20 years of clan conflicts, it seems essential to encourage meetings and stimulate citizenship, sports and cultural events. The Galgaduudne area had no meeting space. RAJO stepped in and built a community hall in the District of Adado in 2013 and 2014.

The community hall is used for weddings, political events, cultural and sporting events, shows, graduation ceremonies, etc.

A political event held at the community hall

sewing cooperative

By setting up a sewing training course that serves primarily for making school uniforms in the Adado region, RAJO intends to allow people to develop skills that can lead to a future paid activity. Furthermore, this gives children who were previously unable to afford the compulsory school uniform, to go to school. Uniforms are sold by RAJO at low prices to allow all children to attend school. Arrangements are also made for families who can not purchase uniforms for their children. A uniform costs on average $10. The average wage of a worker is $45 / month. As of the start of the 2017 school year, the RAJO sewing cooperative will produce 4200 uniforms for 8 Iftiin schools in the Adado region.

Sewing within the cooperative

These three women have graduated from the 6 month sewing course

Workers from the cooperative visit schools and take student's measurements

round-table discussion about children's rights in somalia

Somalia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on the 20th of January 2015. This commitment has been applauded by the international community and child rights advocates are eagerly awaiting the concrete implementation of the these rights. Indeed, the situation from an economic, political and social point of view is complicated and the knowledge of the field is incomplete. In order to learn about the situation of children in Somalia and to know the actors involved or interested in working there, RAJO and the International Institute for the Rights of the Child (IDE) organised a day of reflection in 2016.

English version

rajo day in valais

Each year RAJO enables families to experience a day of fun, support, sharing and intercultural exchange in Valais.

football training centre

Somali youth are enrolled in school only in the morning. Their free afternoons lead them to wander, making them targets for the militias. In March 2017 RAJO and FC Orsières sent football equipment and set up a football training centre in the Galgadud region of Somalia. RAJO hopes to organise inter-village tournaments soon, in order to promote sport in this region.

Abdi watches football training

Four medics await injuries

The region's people come to watch the games

Inter-village tournaments promote sport in the region

The Vital Darbellay* Skills Centre for Vocational Training

In 2019: RAJO, in partnership with Valais Solidaire and with the support of The St-Bernard Foundation, developed the Vital Darbellay * training center in the Galmudug region of Somalia. This program consists of implementing a dual-type vocational training system, which is practical training acquired in local training companies and a theoretical component given in class by teachers hired by RAJO.

* Vital Darbellay was a man of heart and conviction who based his professional (Director of the Professional School of Martigny, 1969-1979), political (national adviser, 1979-1995) and associative commitments on foundations that work for social justice, the common good, equity as well as mutual aid, thus fully embodying the values of our association.

Project launch : The Vital Darbellay Professional Training Center, Press conference on 08.03.2018 at the Celliers de Sion in Valais, Switzerland

Covid-19 Prevention campaign

In order to fight against the spread of COVID-19 in the Galmudug region (Central Somalia), RAJO has set up a prevention campaign in 11 villages and their schools. We also distributed food and protective masks.

Galmudug, Somalia 2020