Galkayo Education Centre for Peace and Development (GECPD)

Putting the lives of women and girls in their own hands

About us

Galkayo Education Center For Peace and Development (GECPD) is a women non-governmental organization, founded in 1999. The goal was to offer education opportunities to women and girls. GECPD begun as an initiative by the founders to mobilize community and international resources to construct and build the GECPD Main Center. The idea was to provide basic education for girls and functional literacy skills for women.

Vision Statement
A society where girls and women are free from all forms of discrimination and violence, respected and able to seek, defend and advocate for their fundamental rights in all spheres of life.

What we do:
• Education: GECPD offers and supports 2 sets of education programs- the formal education that mainly comprises formal primary education and non-formal education that comprises second chance and adult literacy programs. These programs are based on the national curriculums developed with the support of UNICEF/UNESCO and approved by the Ministry Of Education.
• Human Rights: GECPD has since establishment been integrating human rights education components in the national curriculum used in our formal and non-formal classes. In addition we will undertake advocacy and lobbying activities for legislative framework to promote social change, human rights and freedoms and gender equality. Among the most vigorous awareness and advocacy campaigns that GECPD is well known for is the promotion of peace, elimination of female genital mutilation, prevention of sexual gender based violence especially amongst the IDPs, promotion of gender equality, child rights and protection and environmental and natural resource conservation.
• Livelihood: GECPD has since establishment in 1999 been involved in empowering women, girls and youth to access livelihood opportunities. This has included training and creation of employment opportunities for graduates of its vocational skills training programs and initiation of income generation ventures for community women, girls and boys. These include the construction of bakeries in Galkayo and Harfo, construction of a women market in Halabookhad IDP settlement, economic empowerment training and provision of business start up capital for women to start up businesses.
• Youth Development: GECPD has mobilized resources to construct the Galkayo Youth Resource Center for Peace with the aim of protecting young people against the threat of turning into social debauchery through constructive engagement and mentoring. The facility consists of a Football Pitch, a basketball court, a library, a hall/auditorium, a meeting room, a guiding and counseling room, a registry, a youth canteen/social arena and 3 office rooms.
• Disaster Emergency - Relief Intervention: Strategies employed by GECPD in its emergency humanitarian response include: Facilitation/distribution of food and critical non-food items (shelter, blankets, cooking utensils, etc.); Psychosocial counseling for women and child victims of trauma or rape and physical protection of those at risk; Facilitation/provision of emergency water to neighboring communities and IDP camps; Facilitation/provision of emergency health (including women reproductive health); Training on peace education and conflict resolution; Training on community based disaster risk reduction initiatives.

Hawa Aden is the Founder and Executive Director of the Galkayo Education Center For Peace and Development (GECPD).

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