In Search of Safety and Solutions: Somali refugee adolescent girls and Sheder and Aw Barre camps, Ethiopia

The Women’s Refugee Commission completed a re- search mission to the Jijiga Somali refugee camps in Ethiopia in April 2012. The research mission was the first of three such missions, which are part of a three- year global advocacy research project aimed at enhancing the safety and resilience of adolescent girls ages 10 to 16. The purpose of the three-week visit to Ethiopia was to assess Somali refugee adolescent girls’ protection and empowerment needs and priorities; learn what programs and community-based strategies appear to be serving them; appraise gaps in services from girls’ perspectives; and identify potential local partners that could implement an innovative pilot project focused on enhancing girls‘ safety.

This report provides key findings to donors, ARRA, UN agenies, and international, national and community-based organizations to increase safety for adolescent girls, support their participation and leadership, and remove barriers to education and study.