ABDULLAHI IBRAHIM KITAAN lives in Baidoa, one of the Somali cities most affected by the recent drought. He is also one the beneficiaries of the ECHO funded project “Building peace and resilience through empowerment of adolescent girls in Somalia” implemented by INTERSOS. Abdullahi participated to a business skills training and was selected as a successful candidate and awarded with an in kind start-up business grant in Baidoa. Therefore, he received 500 USD in goods and equipment that he has used to improve his business.
He owns a small cafeteria in town and this business in the only source of income for his family.
His cafeteria kiosk is located in TOWFIQ which one of the villages in Baidoa town.
Abdullahi is actively past of a Community Reflective Circle, a community based structure created with the support of INTERSOS staff within the ECHO funded project whose aim is to handle child protection cases and to promote the importance of girls’ education in the community. Abdullahi was one of the most active beneficiaries of the project and he has managed to maintain all his children in school despite the devastating effects of the drought. He has 9 children in total of which 7 are school age and currently attend one of the schools in town.
In June 2017 INTERSOS staff conducted a post-monitoring visit and asked him how he felt about the project and the in kind grant: he said, “The grant received boosted me economically. My income could only cover very basic needs of my family and I was barely able to put food on the table. But now, I am able to pay school fees, house rent and put food on the table for my family”.
He said his kiosk activities scaled up and he is now selling a variety of materials, but what makes him happy is that he is able to pay school fees in time and to send all his children to school.
Abdullahi told INTERSOS staff that he will continue his advocacy through the community reflective circle group to promote the right of girls to education in his community and he expressed his gratitude to ECHO for the opportunity.
This project was funded by ECHO.