Our Approach

How ADAM works

ADAM does not build a parallel system for minority communities. We work inside Somaliland’s existing schools, clinics, courts, markets and electoral processes, and our job is to remove whatever is stopping a particular family from reaching them.

1. We start from the community, not the proposal

Priorities are set with the communities themselves through consultation meetings, elders, women’s groups and youth committees. A programme that a community did not ask for is a programme that ends when the funding does.

2. We combine service with advocacy

Getting one child into school matters. Changing the practice that kept that child out matters more. Almost every ADAM programme pairs direct delivery with documentation and advocacy so the same problem is smaller next year.

3. We work through partnership

We deliver alongside government ministries, local authorities, national civil society networks and international partners. Our contribution is reach and trust inside communities that other organisations find difficult to access.

4. We are accountable in both directions

Beneficiary lists are drawn up with community committees and published locally so selection can be challenged. Reporting to donors and reporting back to communities are treated as the same obligation.

5. We build people, not dependency

Relief is a bridge. Wherever a household receives emergency assistance, we also try to offer a place in a skills or livelihood programme, so that the next crisis is met with an income rather than another distribution.