Halima Adan

Halima Ali Adan is a Somali gender rights activist and an expert on female genital mutilation (FGM). She is national co-chair of the Gender Based Violence (GBV) working group and program manager for Save Somali Women and Children (SSWC), a non-profit humanitarian organization based in Somalia.

Early life Adan was born and raised in Mombasa, Kenya. She studied Computer Science at the University of Greenwich in London where she earned a BSc degree. After obtaining a MSc in Development Studies, Adan initially worked for an Internet service provider in Kenya.

Career Since 2014, Adan has worked for Save Somali Women and Children (SSWC) as a program manager and co-chair of the Gender Based Violence work group (GBV). SSWC was founded in 1992 in Mogadishu by Somali women, whose goals were to create a non-profit organization that would support Somali girls and women who were marginalized and experiencing violence and poverty in their communities.

Adan's GBV team has faced many obstacles in obtaining justice for Somali victims of gender violence. A shortage of sufficiently trained police officers to respond to GBV cases, a low number of female police officers, lack of confidence in the Somali judicial system, and fear of retaliation by perpetrators, prevent many victims from reporting GBV crimes.