Mogodishu Youth Center

With generous support of the United Nations Population Fund and the Somalia Ministry of Youth, Mercy-USA launched the Abdiaziz Youth Center in Mogadishu, Somalia.


Empowering Youth with Practical and Marketable Skills Training

The center offers free vocational training to young people so that they may become self-sufficient. We’re offering computer skills courses, tailoring, cosmetology classes and handicrafts that are in demand in the marketplace. Besides vocational training the Center also offers entrepreneurship classes to help students make the most of the skills they acquire during their training. These classes teach how to start and maintain a small business, identifying market trends in Somalia, record keeping and fiscal responsibility.

Beyond Vocational Training the Center Offers Health and Wellness Counseling

In addition, the Center provides health and wellness services and counseling for the following issues:

  • Early child marriages
  • Drug and substance abuse
  • Information and guidance on seeking treatment for sexually transmitted diseases
  • Female Genital Mutilation prevention
  • Support for survivors of gender based violence

AbdiHakim’s Story 

20-year-old, Abdihakim will finish his 8th year of school in 2020 and despite war and poverty, his mother has done everything she could to keep her son in school. Abdihakim has had a passion for computers but his school only provided theoretical education in the field with no actual computers for him to use. He learned about the Mercy-USA Youth Center through our mobilization team and he was eager to register and attend computer skills classes after school getting hands on training. So far, he has mastered Microsoft Office and uses software to improve his typing and editing skills.

“You can’t imagine the things that I can do on the computer now, before I just had the theory part from my school but now I can say that I am professionally equipped with both theory and practical skills,” said Abdihakim.

Throughout the months of training Abdihakim also receives information about his health and additional instruction on implementing his skills. He will receive a certificate after he passes his exams and hopes to be a video editor after he completes the entire course.