Your questions answered

Zamzam Foundation UK has an office in London while the head office for Zamzam Foundation in Somalia is in the country’s capital, Mogadishu. Your donations to Zamzam Foundation UK enable our counterparts in Somalia to further strengthen their work with local communities across the country to deliver aid, supported by offices in all areas. Zamzam Foundation’s other seven offices in Somalia are in Hargeisa (Somaliland), Garowe (Puntland), Baidoa (Southwest), Beledweyne and Jowhar (Hirshabelle), Kismayo (Jubaland), and Dhusamareb (Galmudug). These locations are the hubs of the operations that Zamzam Foundation UK supports in Somalia but they are not the only places where we work – Zamzam’s programmes extend to rural areas as well as the towns and cities, and to many camps for people displaced from their home villages by conflict and climate change.

Since 2009 ZZF has implemented aid and development programmes in northern Kenya, where it is prioritising eight counties: Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, Isiolo, Turkana, Samburu and Tana River. Zamzam programmes in Kenya closely reflect the areas of focus in ZZF’s programmes in Somalia: education, health, clean water, orphans, livelihoods, peacebuilding, and seasonal projects (Ramadan food packs, qurbani meat and Eid gifts). In ZZF’s first 15 years of operation in Kenya it has established over 300 new water projects (boreholes and wells), supported over 5,000 orphaned children, and created or supported livelihoods for more than 10,000 people. ZZF is in the process of establishing Zamzam Kenya as an independent entity. Donors interested in supporting programmes in Kenya specifically can do so via the ZZF Kenya website at https://zamzamfoundation.ke.

Zamzam Foundation has a small presence in Türkiye and its partnership with ZZF UK to generate support for operations in Somalia and help facilitate international outreach and advocacy. In 2024 ZZF UK created this website to raise awareness in the UK and internationally about Zamzam’s work across Somalia and to raise funds for the lifesaving and life-changing programmes Zamzam is implementing. We have minimal staffing in the UK to keep costs down and ensure that as much as possible of what we receive in donations benefits the communities we serve in Somalia.

Zamzam Foundation has a long-established presence across Somalia, with offices in all areas from the arid north (Somaliland and Puntland) to the southernmost province (Lower Juba). The organisation delivers aid not only in the urban locations where its offices are but also in remote rural areas and in many camps for people displaced by climate change and conflict. ZZF’s extensive local presence, coupled with the level of trust it has built up with local communities and leaders, enables the organisation to identify individuals and families who need its support the most in every area. ZZF is also able to identify the communities where vital infrastructure is particularly lacking or conflict is rife, informing strategic decisions about where to establish new schools, health clinics, wells and boreholes, and where to invest in peacebuilding activities.