The Social Worker Making a Difference: Meet Dahir Abdulle
Through a UNICEF Scholarship Dahir enrolled in Social Work Programme that is enabling him to achieve his dream
Dahir Osman Abdulle (24) was born in Moqokori district in the Hiiran region in central Somalia. He had a late effect of polio at the age of 14 after he completed his Madrassa school which left him paralyzed on the right leg. He says those were the darkest days of his life.
It took him years to come to terms with the disability and to learn life coping strategies.
“My father was my hero. He helped me to go the extra mile and supported me to build my confidence and belief to contribute to the community. My family also had to take care of nine siblings, three boys and six girls, and made sure we all went to formal school.”
Dahir says he later moved to Mogadishu with his sister where he completed his secondary education. He enrolled in the Social Work programme at Somali National University under a UNICEF scholarship together with two female classmates.
“Those girls helped me to learn about this opportunity. I really fell in love with the course. It is enabling me to achieve my dream of helping people, preventing children from being infected by diseases like polio,” he says. “I look forward to graduating next year with a degree in social work. So far, I have participated in several field activities supported by the Ministry of Women and Human Rights and UNICEF. I have also taken part in university and student-led community initiatives like creating awareness on COVID-19, cleaning the environmental, and linking people to services.”
Dahir says he conducts private tuition at night in literacy and numeracy skills for adults and children who are transitioning to formal education.
“A number of street children and shoe-shine children join my class freely at night after their daily work. I have seen their potential to contribute to their community. I also connect them to formal schools.”
Dahir says as a social worker, he focuses on both the person and their environment. He deals with the external factors that impact a person's situation and creates opportunities for assessment and intervention, all aimed at helping them to cope effectively with their reality and to change it when necessary.
“I have seen that sometimes, government responses to shocks actually separate people, like the response to floods in Hiiran region where people were randomly relocated and led to families being separated. As social workers, we assess every intervention and empower families and communities to join the decision-making process.”
Dahir believes that had the social work programme been in Somalia for a long time, it would have achieved a greater social and economic impact and improved many lives and communities.
“Although I had suffered paralytic poliomyelitis, it didn’t restrict me from participating in social activities and did not diminish my satisfaction with life, because disability is a matter of perception”
To professionalize child protection services in Somalia and address gaps in the capacity of the government and non-government actors to implement an effective child protection system, UNICEF in partnership with relevant line ministries established a network of social work schools throughout Somalia that can sustainably produce qualified social workers on an annual basis to fill critical functions in government ministries and civil society partners.
UNICEF collaborated with international professors in social work and six leading universities in Somalia to develop a world class curriculum that is relevant to the Somalia context. Since 2018, UNICEF and the Ministry of Women Human Rights and Development has invested over USD 2 million in the programme and provided thousands of scholarships to students from government and non-government institutions as well as the wider community. The programme is supported by the Governments of Denmark and Sweden and the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).
Since 2018, 240 full scholarship students have either graduated or are about to graduate in the Bachelor and Diploma programme offered by the Somali National University. Dahir is thrilled to be among them.
