Adeso

Adeso is a portmanteau of Africa Development Solutions.{{Cite web |date=2014-03-19 |title=Work for us {{!}} Vacancies and volunteering for African charities |url=https://adesoafrica.org/work-for-us/ |access-date=2022-11-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319100508/https://adesoafrica.org/work-for-us/ |archive-date=2014-03-19 }}File:Fatima Jibrell2.jpg]]

Adeso was founded in Connecticut, in 1991 by environmental activist Fatima Jibrell. Adeso was initially known as Horn of Africa Relief and Development Organization, with a mandate to provide a response to humanitarian needs in Somalia in the context of the Somali civil war and its effects on Jibrell's homeland of Somalia.{{Cite web|title=Climate for conflict|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/deepdive/nightline-special-report-climate-for-conflict-47435725|access-date=2021-11-20|website=ABC News|language=en}} Initial activities included the protection of acacia trees and old growth forest against logging for charcoal.Gilbert, G. (2004). World Poverty: A Reference Handbook (Contemporary World Issues). United Kingdom: ABC-CLIO. p111

In 1998, the organization changed its name to Horn Relief.{{Cite news|last=Fiegl|first=Amanda|date=2014-11-26|title=A Somali Aid Worker Would Rather Give Out Cash Than Free Food|language=en|work=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/11/26/366568550/a-somali-aid-worker-would-rather-give-out-cash-than-free-food|access-date=2021-11-20}}

In 2002, in response to Jibrell's advocacy work, the Puntland Government banned the export of charcoal in the region.Primack, R. B., Wilson, J. W. (2019). Conservation Biology in Sub-Saharan Africa. United Kingdom: Open Book Publishers. The same year, Jibrell won the international Goldman Environmental Prize for Africa.{{Cite web|url=https://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/fatima-jibrell/|title=Fatima Jibrell|website=Goldman Environmental Foundation|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-09}}

The organisation implemented the first large-scale cash transfer program in Somalia in 2003.{{Cite web|url=http://adesoafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/evaluation-of-cash-relief-program-Novib-HR-July-2004.pdf|title=EVALUATION OF CASH RELIEF PROGRAMMEIMPLEMENTED BY HORN RELIEFCOMMISSIONED BY NOVIB/OXFAM NETHERLANDS|last=|first=|date=2012-08-24|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120824092315/http://adesoafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/evaluation-of-cash-relief-program-Novib-HR-July-2004.pdf|archive-date=2012-08-24|access-date=2020-01-27}}

In 2006, Jibrell retired as executive director, and was succeeded by her daughter Degan Ali. The following year, Jibrell won the National Geographic's Buffett Award for Leadership in African Conservation,{{Cite web |title=Fatima Jibrell |url=https://explorer-directory.nationalgeographic.org/fatima-jama-jibrell |access-date=2022-11-13 |website=explorer-directory.nationalgeographic.org}} and the organisation published a cash transfer implementation manual.{{Cite web |url=http://adesoafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/horn-relief-guidelines-for-cash-interventions-in-somalia-september-2010.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304172324/http://adesoafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/horn-relief-guidelines-for-cash-interventions-in-somalia-september-2010.pdf |archive-date=2014-03-04 |url-status=dead }} Also in 2006, the organisation launched a women's literary program in Sanaag, Somaliland. The program was initially met with some resistance from people who objected to women's education on religious grounds, however staff defended the move by arguing that Koranic verses supported the education of women.

The organisation changed its name to Adeso in 2012.[https://adesoafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Impact-report_final.pdf Standing Tall, Celebrating 30 Years Impact Report: 1991–2021], Adeso Somalian-American actor Barkhad Abdi joined Adeso as a voluntary Goodwill Ambassador in 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://parade.com/255411/scottneumyer/barkhad-abdi-talks-captain-phillips-oscar-nominations-giving-back-to-somalia/|title=Barkhad Abdi Talks Captain Phillips, Oscar Nominations & Giving Back to Somalia|last=Neumyer|first=Scott|date=2014-01-21|website=Parade|language=en|access-date=2019-04-09}}

In 2019, Adeso pushed for a shift of power towards locally-community run humanitarian organisations.{{Cite web|title=Are INGOs ready to give up power?|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/are-ingos-ready-give-power/|access-date=2021-11-20|website=openDemocracy|language=en}} Adeso was one of the 286 organisations chosen by MacKenzie Scott in 2021 to receive part of her US$2.7 billion in pilot donations which served as a forerunner of Yield Giving.{{Cite web|last=Alexandra Hutzler|date=2021-06-15|title=MacKenzie Scott donates $2.7B to charity; here's which organizations were recipients|url=https://www.newsweek.com/mackenzie-scott-donates-27b-charity-heres-which-organizations-were-recipients-1600947|access-date=2021-11-20|website=Newsweek|language=en}} The organization planned to use the donation of $5 million to establish an endowment.{{Cite web |last=April 2022 |first=Stephanie Beasley // 25 |date=2022-04-25 |title=Adeso aims to spin $5M Scott grant into endowment, web platform |url=https://www.devex.com/news/adeso-aims-to-spin-5m-scott-grant-into-endowment-web-platform-103058 |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=Devex |language=en}} Adeso has also received funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.{{Cite web |title=INV-029332 |url=https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants/2021/03/inv029332 |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |language=en}}

A significant part of Adeso's work is the delivery of cash assistance, which is often provided to pastoralists.Endogenous Development: Naïve Romanticism Or Practical Route to Sustainable African Development. (2017). United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. p103-104 Cash is used by people to pay off debt, and meeting their basic education and healthcare needs. Adeso adopts a "Inclusive Community-Based Targeting" approach to its activities, adjusting to local cultural and religious norms, respecting the traditional community hierarchy and role of elders and communities leaders who form Village Relief Committees. The committees are obliged to consist of at least 40% women. The committee meets in a public space (in what is known locally as a kulan) and discusses the needs of each potential program beneficiary and then does house-to-house verification of unmet humanitarian needs. This process improves local community ownership of the program and means that the needs assessment, while slower than traditional humanitarian aid, is done by people with the best local knowledge.

Other program activities include women's literacy, cash-for-work programs, and agriculture programs that provide seeds and tools to pastoralists Adeso's community education about environment covers the impacts of charcoal use small scale irrigation.

Advocacy efforts cover topics such as illegal overfishing in Somali waters{{Cite web|last=Hatcher|first=Jessica|title=Illegal overfishing and the return of Somalia's pirates|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2015/10/6/illegal-overfishing-and-the-return-of-somalias-pirates|access-date=2021-11-20|website=www.aljazeera.com|language=en}} and the importance of allowing cash remittances into Somalia.{{Cite news|date=2015-02-19|title=Somalis panic as cash flow dries up after U.S. remittance lifeline cut|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-somalia-money-remittances-idUSKBN0LN0GN20150219|access-date=2021-11-20}}

Activities are centred around the Sool and Sanaag regions of Somali and extend also into Kenya and South Sudan.

Adeso has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom, Kenya, and the United States.{{Cite news|author=The Editorial Board|date=2021-02-13|title=Opinion {{!}} Foreign Aid Is Having a Reckoning|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/13/opinion/africa-foreign-aid-philanthropy.html|access-date=2021-11-19|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|title=How COVID-19 Is Shifting the North-South Philanthropic Power Dynamic (SSIR)|url=https://ssir.org/articles/entry/how_covid_19_is_shifting_the_north_south_philanthropic_power_dynamic|access-date=2021-11-19|website=ssir.org|language=en-us}} There are approximately 45 staff in the Nairobi head office and nearly 250 staff in field offices. The 2012 revenues for Adeso were $25 million.{{Cite web |url=http://adesoafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2012-Annual-Report-Standing-Tall.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304171236/http://adesoafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2012-Annual-Report-Standing-Tall.pdf |archive-date=2014-03-04 |url-status=dead }}

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Category:Development charities based in Kenya

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Category:1991 establishments in Connecticut

Category:Humanitarian aid organizations

Category:Organizations established in 1991