People in need

Somaha Foun­da­tion sup­ports peo­ple in need in the Glo­bal South who are affec­ted by poverty, armed con­flicts, or natu­ral dis­as­ters.

People walking

Challenge

Human hard­ship takes many forms and affects mil­li­ons world­wide. Many chal­lenges, such as hun­ger, lack of access to water and health­care ser­vices, as well as ina­de­quate access to exis­ting legal reme­dies, are pri­ma­rily the result of poverty, armed con­flict, and natu­ral dis­as­ters. Living in poverty or fra­gile con­texts threa­tens safety and liveli­hoods. Mino­ri­ties and vul­nerable groups are also often at increased risk of human rights vio­la­ti­ons.

Solution

Somaha Foun­da­tion streng­thens the resi­li­ence of peo­ple in need.

In pur­suit of this, the foun­da­tion is com­mit­ted on three levels:

  • Com­ba­ting poverty to secure liveli­hoods in the long term.
  • Ensu­ring access to safe drin­king water and health­care to improve health.
  • Ensu­ring access to jus­tice to streng­then human rights.

Somaha Foun­da­tion col­la­bo­ra­tes with Swiss fun­ding part­ners on a long-term basis. Within these insti­tu­tio­nal part­ner­ships, Somaha Foun­da­tion focu­ses on the joint deve­lo­p­ment of inter­ven­ti­ons to address spe­ci­fic chal­lenges and, among other things, sup­ports con­cep­tual frame­works and struc­tures. The goal is com­pre­hen­sive capa­city deve­lo­p­ment in local orga­niza­ti­ons and ulti­m­ately their ope­ra­tio­nal and finan­cial inde­pen­dence.

In addi­tion, Somaha Foun­da­tion pro­vi­des emer­gency relief world­wide to alle­viate acute suf­fe­ring cau­sed by war and dis­as­ter.

Theory of Change

The theory of change explains in more detail how Somaha Foundation’s fun­ding intends to alle­viate human hard­ship in line with the cor­re­spon­ding SDGs.

11
20
30
40
50

Somaha Foundation

Somaha Foun­da­tion deploys its resour­ces through pro­fes­sio­nal exper­tise, cross-sec­tor rela­ti­onships, and finan­cial means. This way, it sup­ports Swiss fun­ding part­ners ope­ra­ting in the Glo­bal South.

Swiss funding partners

Through the sup­port of the Somaha Foun­da­tion, Swiss fun­ding part­ners can improve their qua­lity, streng­then the rele­vance of their acti­vi­ties, and increase their reach with addi­tio­nal resour­ces. They work with local orga­niza­ti­ons in count­ries affec­ted by poverty, armed con­flicts, and natu­ral dis­as­ters on a long-term basis.

Local organizations

In col­la­bo­ra­tion with Swiss fun­ding part­ners, local orga­niza­ti­ons deve­lop their capa­ci­ties, ther­eby streng­thening their lea­der­ship and resi­li­ence. By shif­ting decis­ion-making power from a hig­her level to the local level, their inde­pen­dence is enhan­ced.

Local orga­niza­ti­ons apply their capa­ci­ties in the imple­men­ta­tion of pro­jects and pro­grams. This takes place at three levels:

  • At the first level, by sup­port­ing pro­jects that take mea­su­res to com­bat abso­lute poverty.
  • At the second level, by pro­mo­ting access to safe drin­king water and health­care, for exam­ple by streng­thening health­care sys­tems and water sup­plies.
  • At the third level, by ensu­ring access to jus­tice for vul­nerable groups, such as refu­gees, by pro­vi­ding infor­ma­tion on and expan­ding access to various legal ser­vices.

Focu­sing on these three levels aims to streng­then people’s resi­li­ence.

Outcome

In the theme of peo­ple in need, Somaha Foun­da­tion aims to streng­then people’s resi­li­ence:

  • By com­ba­ting abso­lute poverty, more peo­ple should be able to meet their basic needs such as food, shel­ter, and edu­ca­tion to secure their liveli­hoods.
  • By pro­vi­ding safe drin­king water and sound health­care, the threat of pre­ven­ta­ble dise­a­ses will be redu­ced. This will con­tri­bute to impro­ved over­all health.
  • Access to jus­tice for vul­nerable groups is an important pre­re­qui­site for streng­thening human rights.

Impact

Somaha Foundation’s objec­tive is to reduce human suf­fe­ring. Through its fun­ding, the Foun­da­tion con­tri­bu­tes to the achie­ve­ment of the United Nati­ons Sus­tainable Deve­lo­p­ment Goals, in par­ti­cu­lar SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 3 (good health and well-being) and SDG 16 (peace, jus­tice and strong insti­tu­ti­ons).

merged-1.png

Our other themes

Open and diverse society
Nature pro­tec­tion