Zamzam Foundation is a respected Somali charity and the country’s leading national, charitable aid organisation. We are working in all areas across the country to overcome the challenges of climate change and conflict and help families lift themselves out of poverty. This is the website for Zamzam Foundation UK, which was established in 2024 to raise awareness and funds in the UK and internationally in support of Zamzam’s transformational work across Somalia.

Zamzam Foundation’s head office is in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in the state of Banadir. We work closely with local communities across the country to deliver aid, supported by offices in all areas.

Our other seven offices are in Hargeisa (Somaliland), Garowe (Puntland), Baidoa (Southwest), Beledweyne and Jowhar (Hirshabelle), Kismayo (Jubaland), and Dhusamareb (Galmudug). These locations are the hubs of our operation but they are not the only places where we work – our 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.

Zamzam Foundation works across Somalia to deliver life-saving humanitarian aid and to transform lives. Our mission is to provide people affected by human and natural crises with emergency relief, educational programmes, clean water and food security, health care, protection for children and orphans, and sustainable socio-economic programmes, as well as to promote peacebuilding and effective governance.

Somalia is a country full of potential but hampered by the complex challenges of poverty, climate change and conflict. We deliver emergency aid – food, water, shelter and hygiene kits – to assist the displaced and victims of conflict. The education, orphan care, health and clean water projects we also deliver enable children from poor families to go to school, help to protect against deadly diseases, and provide farmers with a more reliable water supply. Our grants and support for farmers, women entrepreneurs and young people enable families to develop sustainable livelihoods, while our peacebuilding programme works to reduce conflict over scarce resources such as water and pasture.

We are proud that nearly 50 local, national and international organisations support Zamzam Foundation projects and work closely with us as a trusted partner. We sincerely hope that individual donors and families in the UK will increasingly get behind our transformational work across Somalia as they come to understand and appreciate our unique contribution to the country’s development as our established partners do:

• Somalia’s leading national aid and development charity
• Established and run by Somalis for Somalis
• Offices and projects in all areas of Somalia
• Track record of delivering aid in hard-to-reach areas
• Trusted by local communities to work alongside them
• Integrated approach to emergency relief, livelihoods, clean water, healthcare, education and women’s empowerment
• Building a brighter future through schools, livelihood grants and peacebuilding

We are privileged to work with a wide range of organisations to fulfil our vital mission. Our list of nearly 50 partners includes the Federal Government of Somalia and local authorities within the country, leading UN agencies, major institutional donors, and lots of non-government organisations – global, regional, national and local.

Our top ten donors include partners such as the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, Alnajat Charity, International Rescue Committee, World Vision, Islamic Development Bank, Human Appeal Australia, Human Concern International, Medair, Sheikh Abdullah Alnouri Charity Society, and Human Appeal.

In addition to our extensive programmes to alleviate poverty and build self-reliance, Zamzam has an increasingly prominent presence on the international stage. We work with our international partners to promote solutions to Somalia’s challenges, contributing to UN summits and other major events that shape the global landscape in international aid and development. Our aim is to be an increasingly influential voice internationally, speaking up in support of positive change in areas that are critical for a more prosperous and peaceful future.

Zamzam Foundation UK (ZZF UK) was established in 2024 to raise awareness and funds in the UK and internationally to support Zamzam’s transformational work across Somalia.

ZZF UK is not a new organisation but is in fact the new working name for an established UK charity and separate legal entity called the Somali Relief and Development Forum (SRDF). SRDF was set up in 2011 in response to a severe famine in Somalia, bringing various UK-based Somali organisations and communities together to raise funds to save lives.

SRDF became dormant around 2016 but in 2023 SRDF’s trustees signed a partnership agreement with ZZF that enables SRDF to use the ZZF UK name in the UK to generate support for ZZF’s vital work in Somalia. The board of SRDF recognised that Zamzam Foundation is an organisation ideally placed to enable the UK public to support a cause that not only meets the needs of vulnerable people across Somalia, but is also a very good fit with SRDF’s original objectives.

Yes, we welcome your support. If you have a heart for Somalia and its people, we sincerely hope we can be an effective conduit for your zakat all the year round, whenever you choose to pay.

We are implementing a wide range of zakat-eligible projects that support Somalia’s poor and needy, including transformational community water projects and funding and training to help farmers, women entrepreneurs and young people establish sustainable livelihoods.

We already support over 8,400 orphaned children and their families across Somalia – thanks to the orphans and social care programme we established in the 1990s to meet the needs of some of the most vulnerable children and young people.

The Somali Health and Demographic Survey of 2020 found that 32% of households were home to a foster child and/or orphaned children, with at least one orphan in 19% of families. For just £50 a month you can enable us to provide regular cash sponsorship to someone caring for an orphaned child alone, whether that be a sole surviving parent, another family member, or a guardian from the wider community.

The holy month of Ramadan is a time of fasting and reflection for Muslims across the world. It is a time to draw closer to God, to connect with family, and to give generously to people in need – in a spirit of thankfulness and solidarity. Ramadan is a special time for our staff and volunteers across Somalia as they observe the fast themselves while working hard to ensure that vulnerable people in poor communities do not go to bed hungry. Your donations enable us to provide hot meals and food packs to people in need.

Yes, we welcome your donations. Our qurbani programme is Zamzam’s biggest seasonal programme: we provided qurbani meat to 1.9 million people in 2025.

With your support we can ensure that more families get to celebrate Eid Al-Adha together in the traditional way. Your support also helps to boost the incomes of the Somali livestock farmers who provide our qurbani meat.