Located in Baliga-Cas, a small village 25 km to the north of Hargeisa, Somaliland, Barwaaqo University is the first residential university for young women and the only educational institution to offer Montessori Certification in Somaliland.

Barwaaqo was created out of a need in Somaliland for a quality higher education institution, particularly for women. The first phase of the university was the School of Education, which strives to train young Somali women to become leaders in the classroom, who will then educate the next generation of Somali youth across the country. Incredibly, less than 13% of all professional educators -and few than 3% of headteachers- in Somaliland are women. Barwaaqo University’s School of Education is not only empowering women and creating employment opportunities; it is giving young girls their first chance to have a teacher that looks like them! 

The first class of 16 incredible teachers recently graduated from the School of Education (Link) in the only all-female residential university in Somaliland. Fourteen of the first graduates were directly hired by the Abaarso Network Kaabe Schools, a sister school system to Abaarso and Barwaaqo.

Currently, with a student population of 130, Barwaaqo University offers 98% of these students scholarship assistance. Building on its success, and in response to demand from both the private sector and prospective students, Barwaaqo University hopes to support 10 more students in the fall 2022 semester, inshAllah.

This Ramadan… We hope that you can support us in raising scholarship funds for us in educating the next female leaders of Somaliland.