35 YEARS ANNIVERSARY IN SOS CV MOGADISHU

SOS Children’s Village  Somalia started its operation in 1983 after an agreement was signed with the former Government of Somalia. This was followed by the construction of the village, school, clinic and other essential services that support the needs of the community.

In 1991 when the civil war broke out and all humanitarian agencies fled, SOS CV Somalia stayed on providing essential medical services and food aid to crisis-affected Somalis, and since then the organization has been adapting its work to the unstable security situation in the country.

In 2007, following heavy bombardments of the SOS compound, all SOS families and children were evacuated to relatively safer place within Mogadishu. However, the organization continued to offer humanitarian services to Somalis.

Consequently, SOS CV Somalia is a highly resilient organization that has excellent ability to anticipate potential threats, cope effectively with adverse events and adapt to ever-changing conditions. This ability has been critical for the organizational success in Somalia.

On June 23, 2020, SOS Children’s Village in Somalia celebrated its 35 years of providing continued and uninterrupted humanitarian and development services to war-scarred communities of Somalia, reaching over 6 million people as tabulated below.

Hawa, an SOS child addressing participants during the celebration of the SOS Somalia's 35th anniversary

The 35^th anniversary was an opportunity to celebrate SOS Somalia’s achievements, reaffirm its position as the authoritative child-focused organization for Somalia and reflect about the future. The occasion was used to raise awareness among the audiences including the government ministries, the civil society organizations, the private sector and general Somali public on the rights of children without adequate parental care and need for higher quality investments in services that can improve the lives of Somali children.

“For the past 15 years, I have worked with various humanitarian agencies in many countries-most of them in fragile settings including Somalia. I must confess that I have never seen more committed, more dedicated and more hardworking staff than our SOS Somalia team. In spite of the many challenges and hurdles, you persevered and stayed on to save lives of uncountable Somali children and their families. I feel proud to see the positive impacts of our activities on our community,” said Abdikadir, the National Director.

“Since SOS Somalia was established in 1985, there was no single day the services were discontinued. We have been extensively working throughout under different circumstances. All the INGO’s and Government entities fled following the onset of the civil war; we stayed on and  continued serving the most vulnerable community. I believe everyone who lives in Mogadishu is familiar with SOS Somalia because of the available services given when there were insufficient of it,” explained Osman Shukri National Program Development Manager.​