Zamzam on the international stage
Influencing the influential
Zamzam Foundation UK is proud that Zamzam Foundation in Somalia has an increasingly prominent presence on the international stage, contributing to UN summits and other major events that shape the global landscape in international aid and development.
Our aim is to be an influential voice in advocacy on Somalia, speaking up in support of positive change in areas that are critical for a more prosperous and peaceful future. These include:
- More and better targeted international aid and investment.
- Climate justice, including climate finance from richer countries to compensate for the loss and damage in poorer countries caused by carbon emissions elsewhere.
- Women’s education and economic empowerment.
- Joined-up ‘triple nexus’ programmes that integrate aid and development with peacebuilding.
- Effective ‘localisation’ and greater transparency to put more power and resources in the hands of local communities and organisations.
In 2023 Zamzam Foundation became the first Somali charitable organisation to join the influential International Council of Voluntary Organisations (ICVA) and secured special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) – the UN’s central forum for discussing international economic and social issues. ZZF played an active role at the UN’s global summit on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in New York in 2023 and at the 28th and 29th Conference of the Parties (COP) climate conferences in Dubai and Azerbaijan (2023 and 2024).
Zamzam’s programmatic work is aligned with meeting key SDGs in areas such as poverty reduction, health and well-being, education, gender equality, water and sanitation, economic development, climate action, and peacebuilding. We believe it is vital for the international community to guard against backtracking on the SDGs and reinvest in making the progress that the poorest countries need to see.
On the localisation front we participated in ‘Supporting Local Actors Across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus’ – a conference in Copenhagen convened by the Danish and US governments and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Zamzam was a member of the working group on inclusive decision making set up by UNHCR and ICVA as part of their joint Pledge on Advancing Localisation.
As a member of the Somalia NGO Consortium’s localisation committee, we are strongly backing the collaborative implementation of Somalia’s own localisation framework for 2024–28.
Why campaign?
Aid alone will not be enough to address the many challenges Somalia faces – reflected in the startling statistics below. We believe it is important to speak out on the issues that matter and challenge the international community to act.
10.5 million Somalis live below the poverty line
6 million people need humanitarian aid to survive
8 million lack access to safe water and sanitation
1.6 million children are acutely malnourished
3.8 million people are displaced by poverty, climate change and conflict
3.6 million children are out of school
Help us empower families to lift themselves out of poverty
Education
Nearly half of Somalis (46%) cannot read or write. Our schools give girls and boys from some of the poorest families a good education and real hope for the future.
Livelihoods
More than half the population (54%) live below the poverty line. We help poor families earn a decent income by providing seeds, tools and livestock to farmers and grants to small businesses.
Peacebuilding
The climate crisis is causing conflict over scarce water resources and pasture. We are bringing communities together to resolve their differences and find lasting solutions.