The Somali Women Economic Empowerment Foundation is established

The Somali Women Economic Empowerment Foundation (SWEEF) was established on 1 September 2026 as a Somali-led, women-focused development organization working to expand the economic opportunities available to women and girls across Somalia.

The Foundation was created to address a specific and persistent problem. Somali women carry a substantial share of the country’s productive work — in fisheries, farming, livestock, trade and processing — yet remain systematically excluded from the finance, assets, markets and institutions that would allow that work to generate real and lasting income.

An integrated model rather than stand-alone training

SWEEF’s founding position is that the barriers facing Somali women are interlocking, and that addressing any one of them alone rarely produces durable change. A woman who is trained but has no equipment cannot produce. A woman who produces but cannot reach a buyer cannot sell. A woman who sells but cannot access finance cannot grow.

The Foundation therefore delivers across seven stages together — skills, productive assets, finance, enterprise, market access, income and resilience — sequenced so that each element unlocks the next.

Read the full model

Ten strategic sectors

SWEEF will concentrate on ten interconnected sectors: women’s economic empowerment; entrepreneurship and women-led SMEs; fisheries and the blue economy; agriculture and agribusiness; livestock and livelihood development; skills development and employment; financial inclusion and access to finance; food processing and value addition; climate change and environmental sustainability; and women’s leadership and participation.

These sectors are deliberately linked. A woman supported in fisheries may also require skills training, finance, processing capability and market access, and the Foundation is structured to deliver across those boundaries rather than within a single silo.

A phased start

SWEEF will operate progressively across Somalia. In Phase I the Foundation establishes operations and demonstrates evidence-based models in selected priority locations spanning urban, peri-urban, rural, agricultural, pastoral and coastal communities, with emphasis on proving what works and building systems. Phase II expands models that demonstrate results, through partnerships, resource mobilization and structured learning.

Governance rests with a Board of Directors, with day-to-day leadership by an Executive Director supported by a Senior Management Team. Safeguarding, PSEA, child protection and financial control policies were adopted at establishment rather than deferred.