SCV’s advocacy is rights-based and people-centered, focusing on communities most affected by inequality, exclusion, and systemic injustice. Our work focuses on groups most affected by inequality, exclusion, and systemic injustice, ensuring their voices are amplified and their needs addressed through policy influence, civic education, digital engagement, research, and targeted initiatives. This means that marginalized and most vulnerables communities are at the center of everything we do. In Somalia, our core priority groups include:
- Women and girls
- Children and adolescents
- Survivors of violence
- Persons with disabilities
- Ethnically discriminated minorities
- People forcefully displaced by conflict or climate-induced shocks
1. Somali Women and Girls (Top Priority)
Somali women and girls are central to our advocacy. They face a deeply interconnected range of challenges, including:
Challenges faced:
- Rape and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
- • Rising Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV)
- Low literacy and limited education
- Systematic exclusion from governance and leadership
- Early and forced marriage
These barriers are exacerbated by the underrepresentation of women in public leadership and the absence of inclusive, accountable governance systems.
Additional vulnerabilities:
Women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate-induced shocks, including droughts, floods, and displacement, often resorting to harmful coping mechanisms that deepen cycles of poverty and marginalization. Although they are not drivers of conflict, women and girls bear the heaviest burdens of its consequences. SCV works to empower, protect, and amplify their voices through rights-based advocacy, survivor-centered support, and community-focused initiatives.
Our approach: Empower, protect, and amplify voices through rights-based advocacy, survivor-centered support, and community initiatives.
2. Children and Adolescents
Children and adolescents are among the most vulnerable populations in Somalia. They face protection risks, limited access to essential services such as adolescents- and youth-friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services, and exclusion from decisions that directly affect their lives.
Challenges faced:
- Protection risks and exclusion from decision-making
- Limited access to essential services
Our approach:
Our advocacy emphasizes;
- Protect and fulfill children’s rights
- Ensure meaningful participation in humanitarian and development programs
- Provide adolescent- and youth-friendly SRH and GBV services
- Strengthen survivor support systems and referral pathways
We are currently conducting assessments on TFGBV, SRH, and GBV services centers in Puntland, while promoting the integration and harmonization of youth-friendly services across Puntland through continued advocacy and stakeholders engagements.
3. Survivors of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV)
TFGBV is a growing threat in Somalia. Evidence suggests that more than 58% of Somali women have experienced violations such as non-consensual sharing of intimate images or videos.
Survivors require specialized, survivor-centered support, including:
- Removal of abusive digital content
- Protection of digital dignity and online safety
- Cyber forensic assistance
- Legal support
- Integrated Clinical Management of Rape (CMR) services
SCV advocates for national and state-level accountability frameworks that ensure survivors receive timely, safe, and confidential assistance tailored to specific challenges.
Challenges faced:
- Non-consensual sharing of intimate images/videos (affects >58% of Somali women)
Our approach:
Our advocacy emphasizes;
- Safely remove abusive digital content
- Protect digital dignity and online safety
- Provide cyber forensic support
- Deliver legal assistance and integrated CMR services
- Advocate for national and state-level accountability frameworks
4. Persons with Disabilities (PWDs)
Persons with disabilities face social exclusion, discrimination, limited access to services, and underrepresentation in civic and public life.
SCV’s disability inclusion advocacy focuses on:
- Amplifying the voices and representation of PWDs
- Ensuring accessible SRH, GBV, education, and civic engagement services
- Co-designing inclusive programs and digital content in partnership with disability networks
Our production of the Puntland Constitution in audio-visual formats was co-created with visually impaired communities to ensure accessibility, dignity, and meaningful participation.
Challenges faced:
- Social exclusion and stigma
- Limited access to services
- Underrepresentation in civic and public life
Our approach:
Our advocacy emphasizes;
- Amplify voices and representation of PWDs
- Ensure accessible SRH, GBV, education, and civic engagement services
- Co-design programs and digital content with disability networks
Example: validated creation of Puntland Constitution audio-visual formats for visually impaired and unletter communities.
5. Ethnically Discriminated and Historically Marginalized Communities
Somalia is home to communities that have endured generations of discrimination, exclusion, and structural injustice.
Challenges faced:
These groups continue to face barriers to:
- Generational discrimination and exclusion
- Access to education and economic opportunities
- Social protection
- Leadership and representation
Our approach:
Our advocacy emphasizes;
- Address historical injustices
- Promote inclusive policy reforms
- Build integrated and tailored pathways for socio-economic transformation and equal protection under the law.
6. Forcefully Displaced Persons (FDPs)
Conflict, insecurity, and climate shocks have displaced millions across Somalia. The internally displaced persons are among the country’s most vulnerable populations and largest in size across the region. In regard to this, they remain a primary focus of our humanitarian, governance, and climate justice advocacy.
Challenges faced:
- Vulnerability due to conflict, insecurity, and climate shocks due to poverty
- Limited access to services and integration pathways
- Negative adaptation and poor coping strategies
- Limited awareness and negative social attitude
Our approach:
Our advocacy emphasizes;
- Integrating climate and insecurity considerations into humanitarian response interventions to ensure context-appropriate, risk-informed, and conflict-sensitive programming.
- Localizing programme design to foster community ownership and aligning short-term humanitarian assistance with longer-term resilience and development actions to improve graduation pathways, impact, sustainability, and scalability.
- Protection, dignity, and rights-based humanitarian assistance
- Sustainable integration into host communities
- Strengthened referral pathways and access to essential services
- Inclusion in development, resilience, and climate adaptation planning.