In Mogadishu, I met Fartun, a young woman learning to repair mobile phones. After years of instability and displacement, she hopes to return to her hometown and open a small business with fellow trainees, a dream shared by many young Somalis I met during my visit. She will likely become one of the first female mobile technicians in Somalia.
This is a remarkable achievement in a country where opportunities for young women remain limited, but where demand for technology-related skills is rapidly growing from mobile phone repairs and software support to renewable energy such as solar power. These are not niche skills; they respond directly to fast-growing demand across Somalia’s urban and rural economies.
What struck me most was not only her ambition, but what it represented: the quiet determination of a generation trying to build a future beyond crisis. Too often, conversations about Somalia are framed solely through the lens of humanitarian need. The statistics are stark. Nearly 3.3 million Somalis remain displaced within their own country.
Millions more continue to face violence, hunger, and insecurity, political instability, and climate shocks in the form of recurrent floods and droughts. More recently, economic shocks linked to ongoing conflict in the Middle East have further strained livelihoods, remittances, and food prices, thereby deepening the vulnerability of millions of households.
Humanitarian support saves lives. At the same time, without parallel investments in livelihoods, governance, infrastructure, and jobs, crises become entrenched. Communities remain trapped in a state of survival, and dependency deepens. This is where early recovery and stabilisation become critical.
Yet the term “recovery” can be misleading in Somalia’s context. For most young people under 35, there is no recent period of stability to recover from. The last experience of normalcy was in the 1990s, meaning many have been born and brought up in an environment of perpetual crises, even as security and stability have substantially improved in recent years.
During my visit to the city of Bossaso in Puntland state, I saw how local efforts are helping communities rebuild with dignity and security. Families who once lived in informal camps have been provided land to build permanent homes, giving them not just shelter, but a place they can call home again.
New market spaces are enabling displaced and host communities to work and trade side by side, strengthening both economic and social ties between them. Access to basic healthcare, education, and clean water is also improving.
These are the foundations of stability. Recovery begins when people regain a sense of control over their lives: when they have a home again, a means to earn money, access to services, and confidence that tomorrow can look better than today. For Somalia’s youth, this sense of opportunity is especially important. Nearly 75 per cent of the population is under the age of 30.
Many young Somalis have grown up amid conflict, displacement, and economic hardship. For too many, instability has disrupted education, fractured family and community support systems, and left many struggling to imagine a secure future for themselves.
Exclusion and a lack of hope can create a fertile ground for violence and exploitation. Conversely, opportunity creates resilience. In Mogadishu, at the Elman Centre, I met many young women and men whose aspirations echoed Fartun’s, learning practical skills such as mobile phone repair, solar installation, and plumbing.
The Centre is one of Somalia’s most respected and capable civil society organisations and a UNDP partner currently implementing a skills and employment project for vulnerable youth, in close collaboration with a network of private sector companies that provide jobs for these youth. Recovery is not only about technical training. Sports, arts, and community activities are also helping young people rebuild confidence and a sense of identity and belonging.
Regional integration also matters. Somalia’s recent accession to the East African Community opens new possibilities for trade, investment, and economic cooperation across East Africa. With the right support, Somalia’s young population and entrepreneurial energy could become a major economic asset for the region.
-The writer is the UNDP Crisis Bureau Director and UN Assistant Secretary-General
