The Somali central government fell to opposition clan factions in January 1991. In the wake of that event, and the inability of the various political factions and clan leaders to compromise to set up a new interim administration, the country again fell into anarchy. Everything of any value was looted - right down to the electrical wiring in buildings. In that milieu, existing government infrastructure was hit very hard - education infrastructure not receiving any special exemption.

Then came the now infamous famine and US and UN humanitarian intervention. Followed by the events epitomised by the book and movie Blackhawk Down. Relatively soon after, the UN withdrew from Somalia (1995).

SAACID began its education programming in 1996, when it became obvious that no local political compromise was going to eventuate and that the international community had indeed largely walked away from Somalia. Since that time SAACID has developed primary, secondary and vocational schools in the Benadir (Greater Mogadishu) and Middle Shabelle regions of Somalia.

SAACID runs the schools in partnership with local communities where the schools are based. The local communities help determine the curriculum, set dress standards, strategic planning, discipline, etc. The local communities donate the site for the school and provide the surety of security to allow SAACID to invest the significant sums necessary to develop the sites back to bearable conditions. In all cases, the communities have chosen to have the national Somali or Kenyan syllabus taught in English. Even rural communities perceive English as the language of commerce; and Somalis are intuitive merchants.

The schools are fee-based, so each family sending a child to school has to pay monthly school fees. There is no other way in the current context to ensure that teachers can be paid and some maintenance provided for the buildings. Literally thousands of attempts have been made to provide free education, but unless the money is coming from external sources (i.e., Somali diaspora or Islamic charities) the schools are not sustainable and they close. SAACID has no local recurrent funding base and no recurrent external funding stream. SAACID relies totally on school fees to operate its existing school network. 

SAACID does desire to further develop its school network, as only a fraction of Somali children currently have an opportunity to access even rudimentary education, but SAACID is severely hampered by a lack of development capital. The capital we have been able to secure comes through a process of project proposals to sovereign governments with missions based in Nairobi, Kenya. The Australian and Dutch governments have been very supportive over the past few years.

The volunteers and friends of SAACID - Australia have also worked very hard to donate, collect, sort, pack and ship 62.9 tonnes (to date) of second-hand books to Somalia for libraries in our schools. The Australian High Commission in Nairobi has supported this initiative by providing the funding necessary to ship these books on 2 occasions; MCC has supported shipping once; and on two occasions private donations from Australia have covered the costs of shipping. More than 75 public and private schools in Queensland, Australia have donated books. Zonta (Caboolture) - an international women's NGO) has continually collected books for this initiative for the past few years. Save the Children (Margate) has also donated many tonnes of books, clothing and toys for this initiative.

The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) - through its Global Families Programme - partners SAACID in providing 50 scholarships to orphan children in Mogadishu and 25 scholarships in the rural town of Adale.

MCC is also partnering SAACID in an innovative project that link micro-credit to poor women to enrolling one of their children in a fee-paying school – instead of paying interest on the loan. The pilot has been incredibly successful, with all 44 women talking part in the pilot successfully repaying their loans, as well as having one of their children in fulltime formal education. In 2007, MCC is going to further extend this programme by providing funds for a “Block 2” loan for another 50 women – as well as recycling the original “Block 1” loan to a new group of women.

In January 2007, MCC provided funds build a perimeter wall for a new school.

In February 2008, after the whole compound wall of another SAACID school collapsed, MCC again committed funding to fully repair that wall, so that a "kid's safe zone" could remain assured for children enrolled at that school, in the sea of conflict and violence that epitomises the rest of Mogadishu.

SAACID is currently partnering the Netherlands Organisation for Community Development (NOVIB - an OXFAM partner) in developing a women's teacher training institute in Mogadishu. The training course is 2 years in length and is designed to get Somali women into professional teaching positions. From there they can earn an income for their families, be economically independent and provide role models for their students and communities. Currently we have 155 women enrolled. As usual, demand far outstrips supply, but physical infrastructure is a severe constraint to further expansion of the programme. In 2004, and with great pride, the first graduating class of 100 women completed their 2-year course (see photo selection above). Thus far, 250 women have graduated from the programme.

NOVIB also provides 15 scholarships to impoverished girls at one of SAACID’s schools.

International Aid Services (IAS) also provides 75 scholarships to secondary girls at one of SAACID’s schools.

SAACID also currently provides vocational training in literacy (with a special focus on women and girls), English and typing to local communities. This initiative is self-funded, so while we would like to provide a much more extensive skills training programme, we are limited by recurrent revenue.

If you would like to know more about our education programming, or like to contribute to future programming, please feel free to contact us at the link below.