The UNHCR Education Strategy for Somalia addresses urgent needs while progressively advancing sustainable approaches. Its primary goal is to empower children and youth to exercise their educational rights guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, and related frameworks. Through ongoing collaboration with Somalia’s Government, UNHCR will intensify its efforts to promote and facilitate refugees’ and other displaced individuals’ access to quality education and integration into the national education system, irrespective of gender, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, or disability status.

This strategy employs methods that foster inclusive and high-quality education for forcibly displaced individuals and their host communities, helping them reach their full potential, enhance their resilience, and make meaningful contributions to society. The UNHCR Somalia Education Strategy aligns with and advances implementation of the organization’s comprehensive Multi-Year Multi-Partner Protection and Solutions Strategy for 2023-2026, as revised in March 2025.

The Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) endorsed the Djibouti Declaration of the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in 2017 to streamline the integration of refugees and returnees into the national education system. Implementation faces obstacles due to Somalia’s generally restricted educational access, yet the Declaration remains a valuable advocacy tool aligned with the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and its Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF).

The UNHCR Somalia Education Strategy draws guidance from the Agency’s global “UNHCR Refugee Education 2030: A Strategy for Refugee Inclusion” and seeks to assist the Somali Government in establishing an optimal social context for sustaining protection of displaced individuals. At the same time, it actively encourages UN sister agencies, development partners, civil society organizations, and academic institutions to advocate for and incorporate forcibly displaced persons within their existing humanitarian and development initiatives.

UNHCR has persistently promoted the full inclusion of all displaced persons in the Federal Government of Somalia’s (FGS) National Transformation Plan (2025-2029) and the UN Common Country Analysis and UN Cooperation Framework, which reflect the thematic and strategic focus areas of the NTP.