Ali Abdirahman Adan is a native Somali state-media journalist, who is based in the capital Mogadishu. He has worked in this field for over ten years, and currently serves as the Editor in Chief for Radio Mogadishu under the Ministry of Information, Tourism and Culture. Deeply passionate from a young age, Ali's journey in journalism began in 2011 as an assistant producer for a local radio station in Mogadishu. He also worked as a news presenter and program host for Somalia's national television SNTV. Later, he became a communications officer at the Ministry of Women and Human Rights Development in Somalia, and he was responsible for its social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Ali particularly worked hard to promote the 30% election quota for women's political participation. He has also frequently contributed to the Turkish television show TRT WORLD in covering Somali issues and is broadly experienced on Egypt and China from his study tours and travelling. 

IVLP Impact Award Project: Empowering Young Female Journalists in Somalia

The project was aimed at advancing journalism skills and knowledge in girls and young women and promoting gender equality and parity within the journalism community. This project trained 25 national female journalists in a 5-day session on topics such as journalistic ethics and reporting in a conflict zone, as well as focusing on sensitively and professionally reporting on human rights abuses. The participants will continue be a voice for the voiceless and are now equipped with skills in citizen journalism. The project also created a platform to share information, best practices and collectively learned lessons.

Recent studies show that there is a gap in targeting and empowering young women for journalism beyond reporting and most women are still embedded in their countries. In Somalia, there are many negative attitudes towards female journalists, meaning that the risk increases further for female journalists who may be reporting in already dangerous situations. There is a need to prepare professional female journalists to be able to cope with such situations and to have resilient work methods. This project has taken an important step towards improving the situation for female journalists in Somalia.

This picture shows Somali female journalists attending a workshop held in Mogadishu.

"After I finished my training, my journalism career is improved...now I can call myself [a] journalist" - Seminar Participant

IVLP Exchange Experience 

Ali was a participant in the IVLP Project: Journalism Covering Politics in Conflicts Zones, organized by the U.S. Department of State and the Institute of International Education.

Ali's exchange experience led to the development of his IVLP Impact Award Project: "Participating in the IVLP was a game changer for my development because it connected me to the global network. IVLP was an immense career development program."

U.S. Communities Visited Virtually 

Washington, DC; New York City, NY

Country: Somalia

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