In Korogocho, Nairobi, a classroom became a dining space. Children sat at their desks with hot meals after a quarterly health screening while Human Development Fund (HDF) CEO Shaykh Abdirahman Kariye moved between them, serving plates alongside the local team.
In Hargeisa, another field visit placed him beside a water truck as clean water flowed into containers for families at Digaale IDP Camp. Across the HDF East Africa field mission in September 2026, moments like these brought leadership into direct contact with the people, programs and partnerships behind HDF’s work in Kenya and Somalia.
Why HDF leadership went to the field
The mission was designed to bring senior leadership closer to program delivery. It created space to listen to children and students, meet local teams and institutional partners, observe selected activities and identify priorities for follow-up.
In Kenya, the visit was a leadership oversight mission, not a formal evaluation. From September 12 to 17, Shaykh Abdirahman Kariye traveled with HDF Head of Programs Abdulkadir Haro and Chief Operating Officer Farooq Haque. Together, they visited Korogocho, the Islamic University of Kenya and the HDF Kenya office.
The Somalia mission extended across Hargeisa, Borama, Berbera and Burco. Along the route, HDF leadership met children, displaced families, health workers, government representatives, community leaders and humanitarian partners.
In Kenya, three areas of care around each child
In Korogocho, the delegation visited Al-Tawoon Primary School and Tranquility Education Center, two schools attended by children in HDF’s Orphan Care Program. The visits showed how education, health and nutrition can work together around each child.
At Tranquility Education Center, the team observed a quarterly health screening and joined a hot-meal activity for 100 children. At Al-Tawoon, the Orphan Care Program Lead guided the delegation through the school and the surrounding community, connecting leadership with the daily environment in which the program operates.
The mission then moved to the Islamic University of Kenya. HDF leaders met students supported through an education partnership serving approximately 300 students from countries across Africa. They also met university leadership, toured the campus and discussed the students’ experiences and priorities.
The Kenya visit concluded with the country team. Staff working across programs, administration, communications and operations met with senior leadership to review current work and strengthen coordination between field delivery and organizational decision-making.
Learn more about HDF’s work in Kenya.
In Somalia, immediate relief and stronger local systems
In Hargeisa, HDF celebrated the progress of 200 children through an Orphan Care Program prize-giving day. The organization also opened its new Hargeisa office, creating a local coordination point for programs, partnerships and future initiatives.
At Digaale IDP Camp, HDF provided food assistance to 250 people and delivered 50,000 liters of water. The visit brought leadership alongside families living with food insecurity and limited access to safe water, as well as the teams organizing the response.
The mission also looked beyond immediate relief. In Borama, leadership visited two health facilities working in community health and maternal and child health. In Berbera, the team reviewed port and logistics capacity connected to humanitarian supply chains. In Burco, HDF visited Tabantaabo Orphanage Girls School to assess a possible future partnership that could benefit more than 1,000 orphaned and vulnerable children. That figure reflects potential future reach, not a completed program outcome.
Throughout the Somalia visit, meetings with public institutions and community leaders focused on how local coordination can strengthen humanitarian delivery over time.
Learn more about HDF’s work in Somalia.
What field leadership makes possible
Written reports record activities, figures and timelines. Field visits add context. They allow leaders to hear directly from the people delivering and receiving services, see how different parts of a program connect and understand where follow-up is required.
They also reinforce a basic responsibility: decisions made at an organizational level should remain connected to conditions on the ground. For HDF, that means listening before expanding, working with local institutions and keeping program decisions close to the communities they affect.
The stories we will share next
One overview cannot carry every story documented during these visits. In the coming weeks, HDF will share closer looks at orphan care in Korogocho, the scholarship partnership at the Islamic University of Kenya, food and clean-water assistance at Digaale IDP Camp, orphan care in Hargeisa and Burco, and the systems behind the new Hargeisa office.
Each story begins in a different place. Together, they show what responsible humanitarian delivery requires: direct listening, local knowledge, capable teams and partnerships that remain present after a field visit ends.
Explore where HDF works and follow the field stories as they are published.
