First Lady of Somalia
Saynab Moallim
Ms Saynab Moallim, spouse of the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Mr. Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, was born and raised in Mogadishu, Somalia. She is the third of nine children of Bishara Adan & Abdi Moallim. After graduating from Mohamud Harbi Secondary School, she attended Lincoln University at Jefferson City, Missouri, USA, between 1985 – 1989. She graduated with a BA in Business Administration. Upon her graduation she worked with Buffalo Public Schools, Buffalo, New York for over nineteen years. Ms. Saynab was also active member of Somali Community of Buffalo, New York.
Ms Saynab Moallim has been involved, for a long time, in multifaceted social and Children Advocacy group. She resumed and in charge of various charitable and advocacy foundations and associations, as follows: – Chairperson, Saynab Moallim Foundation, Charity Organization that helps women and children – Honorary Chairperson, Office of the President’s Volunteerism of Somalia’s drought, Wounded, and Orphanage Council – Chairperson of the Management Committee of early childhood education – Honorary President of the Association for the Protection of Handicapped Children & reduce child maternal mortality rates – Honorary member of the Somali Cultural Foundation With President Mohamed they have two daughters, and two boys from the age of 16 to 26 years
Saynab Moallim foundation (SMF) is a new organization established on January 27th 2018 in Mogadishu, Somalia to promote health and education for mothers and children in Somalia. The foundation is a non-profit, non-government, and non-political organization which will serve the public regardless of religion, gender, class or creed or political affiliation. The foundation is planning to operate in all the states of Somalia and has branded itself after a comprehensive strategic plan workshop designed for the years 2018-2023.
As per UNICEF reports, one out of every seven Somali children dies before seeing his/her fifth birthday (137 deaths/1000 live births) with higher numbers in south and central Somalia. One out of every 12 women dies due to pregnancy related causes (maternal mortality rate is 732 deaths of mothers for 100,000 live births) and access to maternal health services is low. Somalia is also drought prone and faces food insecurity which is exacerbated by poor health care, lack of access to safe drinking water and safe sanitation facilities.
Due to above critical conditions, SMF has been setup to make a change and to increase mother and child care awareness as well as to create adequate centers with appropriate human resources.
Somalia is one of the world’s least protective environments for children, with over 2,000 grave violations recorded in 2015. Nearly every girl undergoes Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and only 4 in 10 go to school. Somali children and their mothers continue to suffer from multiple nutritional deprivations, which deny them the opportunity to thrive and reach their full developmental potential. Over 300,000 children under the age of five are acutely malnourished and the under-five mortality rate is among the highest in the world (UNICEF report,2016)
SMF was established by the First Lady of Somalia, Ms. Saynab Moallim. A board of founding members and management has been constituted. SMF founders are professionals who are committed to the mother and child care, as well as transparency, accountability and community participation in our voluntary and charitable work. The active participation of the target groups in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all projects will be the hall marks of SMF. In the same vein, SMF intends to avoid any non-professional conduct, and will build a name as an NGO to rely on and partner with; SMF will as well value and promote internationally acceptable standards. The logo we chose indicates a mother caring for a child.
• Passionate
• Hard working
• Innovative
• Inspiring
• Efficient
• Sustainable
• Community-based
• Professional
• At High Quality
• Transparent
• Fair
• Empowering
• Trustworthy
• Rights-based